Child Welfare Symposium*
October 24, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT
Journalists can register for the virtual webinar here.
Child Welfare Impact Fund application deadline
November 21, 2024
*To be eligible for the Impact Fund, journalists must attend the October 24 Child Welfare Symposium.
Description
The Center for Health Journalism’s Child Welfare Symposium and Impact Reporting Fund supports ambitious investigative or explanatory projects on the child welfare and foster care systems, as well as the social and economic policies and conditions that can strengthen or weaken families and communities. We encourage trauma-informed reporting, with an eye toward systemic inequities. We also welcome stories that explore promising initiatives to support children and families.
Our October 24 Child Welfare Symposium is free and open to journalists. It will explore policy and journalism on the child welfare system, which investigates and removes children from their homes at alarming rates, disproportionately impacting children of color, and leading to worse outcomes and compounding family trauma.
Journalists who attend the virtual program, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT, are eligible to apply for our Impact Reporting Fund on Child Welfare, which provides reporting stipends of $2,000 to $10,000 and five months of one-on-one mentoring as reporters work on journalism projects for their outlets in partnership with the Center.
Grantees receive:
- Reporting grants of $2,000-$10,000
- Five months of professional mentorship from a veteran journalist
- Monthly virtual cohort meetings
- Eligibility to compete for a $1,000-$2,000 engagement grant and five months of one-on-one engagement mentoring
Reporting themes we support
Projects should focus on the child welfare and foster care systems, as well as efforts to prevent kids from entering these systems in the first place. Projects could incorporate one or more of the following themes:
- The impacts of the child welfare and foster care systems on children and families
- Safety net programs, their effectiveness, and their impact on family stability
- The effectiveness of government reforms to improve the child welfare system and keep more children out of foster care
- New approaches to improving outcomes and to keeping families together
- The intersection of race/ethnicity and/or class in child welfare outcomes
Sign-up for our newsletter as well for updates and deadlines for future opportunities to apply.
Don’t see your question answered there? Reach out to us at chj@usc.edu.