The Imprint

6 days ago | imprintnews.org | John Kelly

We have yet to see a full budget request from President Donald Trump; if his first term requests are any indication, his fiscal 2026 ask will include a healthy amount of spending cuts across government. But a leaked document with details on plans for the Department of Health and Human Services portends far larger hacks into federal spending, including the elimination of major human services programs. You can click here to see the outline.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

It was the annual high school wrestling tournament that Lily Dorman Colby looked forward to most when she was a teen in foster care two decades ago. At the time, she was an All-American wrestler at Berkeley High. More than the actual competition, Colby was excited about the opportunity the tournament gave her to see a younger brother, who was also in foster care, but had been placed in a separate home.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | Josh McGhee

‘Bad kid’ diagnosis ‘greases the school-to-prison pipeline,’ doctor says. This story was co-published with permission from MindSite News. Black children are disproportionately diagnosed with a mental health condition known as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), which serves to label them as “bad kids” and perpetuates systemic racism, says a California psychiatrist in a report released in January.

1 week ago | imprintnews.org | John Kelly

In 1997, the vast majority of federal welfare funds flowed to states and then directly into the households of low-income families. Now, such direct assistance makes up about a quarter of the $16.5 billion spent annually through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, with the rest going to programs and services nominally aimed at helping alleviate poverty. And child welfare systems are one of the biggest recipients of that money.

2 weeks ago | imprintnews.org | Colleen Connolly

Advocates seeking to codify the rights of foster youth in Minnesota are hoping a last-minute push to have the bill considered by lawmakers will result in its passage before the legislature’s quickly approaching deadlines. Crafted by ​​Minnesota’s Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson less than a year after the watchdog agency’s official opening, the Foster Youth Bill of Rights seeks to enshrine more than 150 rights into law — some already existing under current law, others entirely new.