News & Articles
This page has two parts, and they go together.
First, the news. What is changing for children and families across America: new laws, court rulings, audits and reports. A person checks each one, and each one links to its source.
Then, our own articles. A headline tells you what happened. We go find out why. We read the records, follow the money, and tell you what we found in plain words.
Start with the news. Then keep scrolling to see what we dug up.
Child welfare news from across America.
A person at Project Milk Carton reads every item before it goes up. Each one opens at its source.
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State ·
Louisiana lets foster families apply online with new HomeReady system
Louisiana's child welfare agency launched HomeReady on October 7. Families can apply to foster online, upload papers by photo, and track their application.
Source: Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services PMC article below: Louisiana moves foster family applications online ↓ -
Federal ·
Federal agency proposes dropping old child welfare reporting rules
The Administration for Children and Families wants to remove outdated child welfare rules. The public can comment until November 4, 2026.
Source: Federal Register -
State ·
Washington gets $200,000 federal grant to speed foster placements
Washington's child welfare agency was one of 14 picked for a $200,000 federal grant to speed placing children with kin, foster and adoptive families.
Source: Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families -
Operation ·
New York operation finds 34 missing children and teens
Over three days on Long Island, more than 100 workers from nearly 40 agencies and groups found 34 young people who had been reported missing.
Source: New York Governor's Office -
News outlet ·
Federal match for foster care prevention programs rises this month
This month the U.S. starts paying states more for programs that keep children out of foster care. The old match was 50 cents per dollar.
Source: Spectrum News -
News outlet ·
Insurance costs and funding gaps close California foster agencies
Thirty California foster family agencies closed in 2024 and 2025 as insurance costs soared. A $31.5 million state fund has $5.5 million left.
Source: GV Wire PMC article below: Why California's foster family agencies keep closing ↓ -
State ·
New California law adds notices when abuse in foster care is confirmed
When a county confirms abuse or neglect in a foster placement, it must now tell the parents' lawyers and tribal representatives.
Source: California Legislature (AB 1688) -
Federal ·
Federal audit finds gaps in how Arkansas handles abuse reports
Auditors checked 140 child abuse reports and found that 138 missed required steps. They made six recommendations to the state.
Source: HHS Office of Inspector General -
Federal ·
Defense Department sets up one system to track abuse cases
The Defense Department is creating one records system to track child abuse, neglect and domestic abuse cases. Comments are due October 28, 2026.
Source: Federal Register -
Courts ·
Hackers took 150,000 Arizona foster care review reports
Hackers broke into Arizona's court system on September 24 and copied more than 150,000 Foster Care Review Board reports going back to 2010.
Source: Arizona Supreme Court PMC article below: Hackers copied 150,000 Arizona foster care reports ↓ -
Federal ·
Watchdog reviews hotline for children released from federal care
In early 2024, the refugee office's call center got nearly 2,000 child safety reports about children it had released.
Source: HHS Office of Inspector General -
Federal ·
Federal grant backs court program for babies and toddlers
A federal health agency is giving ZERO TO THREE $2.75 million to help courts and child welfare systems support babies and toddlers.
Source: Federal Register -
State ·
Half of Maryland's youngest foster children now live with relatives
As of July 2026, 50% of Maryland foster children under 10 lived with family, up from 34.5% in July 2024.
Source: Maryland Governor's Office
Articles · From our desk
What we wrote lately.
We write on Substack. Here are our newest posts. Each one opens on Substack.
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From Our Website's News Feed: Why California's foster family agencies keep closing
In California, many foster homes are not recruited by the county. They are recruited, trained and supported by nonprofit foster family agencies that work under contract with the county. When one of those agencies closes, every family it supports has to land somewhere else.
Read it on Substack Goes with the news item: Insurance costs and funding gaps close California foster agencies -
From Our Website's News Feed: Hackers copied 150,000 Arizona foster care reports
[DRAFT - NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL AN OFFICER APPROVES]
Read it on Substack Goes with the news item: Hackers took 150,000 Arizona foster care review reports -
Civic Action Plan: Get the Free Numbers to Families Before a Crisis
This plan goes with our guide, The Second Predator: When “Help” for a Family in Crisis Comes With a Bill, and its video version.
Read it on Substack -
The Second Predator: When "Help" for a Family in Crisis Comes With a Bill
The families in this piece are composites, built from patterns in federal warnings. They are not real people, and no real child is described.
Read it on Substack -
Five Ways a Group Can Adopt One Seat for Kids in Care
In “ Pick Your Seat ”, we asked readers to pick one role that fits the time they really have. This companion guide is for groups: a congregation, a team, a block of neighbors. Shared work lasts longer than one person’s good intentions, because when one member has a hard month...
Read it on Substack -
Pick Your Seat: Who Can Do What for Kids in Care, Starting This Week
PMC has spent months documenting where the child welfare system and its money go wrong. That work matters. But a report cannot sit in a courtroom with a scared kid, and a critique cannot drive a toddler to day care. People do that.
Read it on Substack -
Room at the Table
Louisiana moved foster family applications online. We wrote about it, we made a video about it, and now we’ve written a song about the people who say yes before they ever sign a line.
Read it on Substack -
The Trap Hidden in a Teen's DMs, and the Families Turning It Around
What would your teen do if a stranger online threatened to share a photo of them?
Read it on Substack -
In Three Days...
Read it on Substack -
From Our Website’s News Feed: Louisiana moves foster family applications online
The country does not have enough foster homes. By the federal government’s own count in July 2026, there were 57 licensed foster homes for every 100 children in foster care. One reason willing families never make it to the finish line is the paperwork. Louisiana just changed how...
Read it on Substack Goes with the news item: Louisiana lets foster families apply online with new HomeReady system -
Let Me Take You On a Tour: Stop 3: The Qualifying Room
Remember the last stop on the tour? The folding tables, the packing line, the bags that slip quietly into backpacks on Friday (Find it here). Good. Today we’re walking into a room most people have never heard of.
Read it on Substack -
The Foster Care Gold Rush, Part 5: The Reckoning
This is the final part of a five-part series. Part 1 covered the law that was supposed to end child warehousing. Part 2 followed the money. Part 3 covered what happens to children inside these facilities. Part 4 asked who was supposed to be watching. Part 5 asks why reform keeps...
Read it on Substack -
The Foster Care Gold Rush, Part 4: Who Was Supposed to Be Watching
This is Part 4 of a five-part series. Part 1 covered the law that was supposed to end child warehousing. Part 2 followed the money. Part 3 covered what happens to children inside these facilities. Part 4 asks who was supposed to be watching. The complete version of this report...
Read it on Substack -
The Foster Care Gold Rush Part 3:
This is Part 3 of a five-part series. Part 1 covered the law that was supposed to end child warehousing and how certification became a paperwork exercise. Part 2 followed the money through Title IV-E, Medicaid, state contracts, and the four largest residential operators. Part 3...
Read it on Substack -
The Foster Care Gold Rush, Part 2: The Money
This is Part 2 of a five-part series. Part 1 covered the law that was supposed to end child warehousing and what federal investigators found seven years later: certification became the battlefield, and reform became a paperwork exercise. Part 2 follows the money. The complete...
Read it on Substack -
The Foster Care Gold Rush Part 1: The Promise and the Paperwork
This is Part 1 of a five-part series. The complete report was first published in May 2026 and remains available here. Part 1 covers the law that was supposed to end child warehousing, what federal investigators found seven years later, and how a reform built on certification...
Read it on Substack -
Let Me Take You On a Tour: Stop 2: The Backpack on Friday
Remember the first stop on the tour? The folding tables behind the community center, the assembly line, the jar of peanut butter (Find it here). Good. Today we’re going inside. And you’ll notice I told you to bring your kids to this one. I meant it. Hold that thought.
Read it on Substack -
Where the Money Goes: What Families Should Know About the Organizations Paid to Care for Kids
For a few years, the largest shelter for migrant children in America was a converted Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. Rows of beds where the aisles used to be. Nearly 1,500 boys under one big-box roof. Each of those children was there because an adult somewhere failed them, and...
Read it on Substack -
The Network That Hunts Our Kids Online, and the Families Fighting Back
The couch is the same couch. The blanket is the same blanket. Your daughter is curled up where she always sits, giggling at her tablet, building some world out of blocks in a game half the kids in America play. Everything about the picture says safe.
Read it on Substack -
The Stories Our Kids Are Sold: The Tricks That Find Them in Games, Chats, and DMs
Let me start off by telling you a true and sad story. A prominant family, father running for office, a high school son, star athlete, with a promising future. This family lives here in my community. One day not long ago this boy met a beautiful girl his age online. They began...
Read it on Substack