The Imprint

5 days ago | imprintnews.org | Susanti Sarkar

Against the backdrop of a federal government taking aim at public spending on low-income children and families, New York lawmakers have agreed to significant investments in these working poor households. Both houses of the state Legislature passed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget late Thursday night — a $254 billion spending plan finalized after more than a month’s delay.

6 days ago | imprintnews.org | Sara Tiano |Michael FitzGerald |Michael Fitzgerald

On a Thursday in late March, department leaders in the U.S. Administration for Children and Families gathered at a meeting. The warning they received from higher-ups was blunt: On Monday, ACF will look nothing like it does today. With White House officials and business tycoon Elon Musk on camera calling to “delete” federal agencies and leave bureaucrats “traumatically affected,” cuts to social services appeared imminent.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | Anna Spoerre

This story was originally published by Missouri Independent. Hailey cradled her cat like a baby and nuzzled his fur. It wasn’t long before he rejected the attention and leapt from her arms in the callous way cats do. She cursed him in the way hormonal teenagers do. Ash, a gray stray Hailey took in against her great-aunt’s protesting, became the teen’s comfort through a pregnancy and postpartum that spanned 10 foster homes, hospitals and group homes across Missouri.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | Susanti Sarkar

Bronx foster mom Jean Pennant is used to the hectic routine of school pickups and dropoffs. She has taken care of 14 foster children over the last decade. Currently, she has five children in her home, including a 2-month-old baby and an 11-year-old on the autism spectrum who must be taken to school in his old neighborhood more than an hour away in Queens — on top of frequent visits to a neurologist.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | Michael FitzGerald |Michael Fitzgerald

Hannah Van Dinter lived in a homeless shelter with two young kids beneath Washington’s snow-capped Olympic Mountains when she learned about Head Start. The landmark early childhood education program has served millions of working poor families with young children since it was established 60 years ago. They were a good fit. The family of four lacked steady household income, and they kept running into “bad situations,” including a visit from CPS, she said.