Insights

Speaking to child welfare experts around the country in the course of reporting, I’ve become convinced that people on both sides — the families in the system, and those charged with carrying out its rules — believe improvements to this country’s approach to child welfare are urgently needed.

In southern Nevada, waiting lists to see a psychologist stretch into the months, and residential treatment centers fill up fast. Jackie Valley of the Las Vegas Sun is embarking on a reporting project looking at the plight of children with mental illness, and what more might be done.

For fellows looking to ensure the communities they cover have a voice in and a chance to act on important stories and issues, there is food for thought in @Janschaffer's Neiman post on the hey day of civic journalism.

While states such as Texas and Florida have repeatedly rejected efforts to expand Medicaid in the first place, California is on the verge of expanding public health coverage to include undocumented children. But will they be able to find access to care in an already crowded Medicaid system?

On Tuesday, the FDA announced that it will require the food industry to eliminate the use of artificial trans fats by 2018. Does that mean trans fats will soon disappear completely? Not quite. Here are five things to watch for as the FDA’s new ruling rolls out.

The Huffington Post is recruiting a professional to cover over social change issues such as poverty, health and education.

Leading journalists and a former Obamacare official offered predictions, discussed possible outcomes and shared story ideas for the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision on King v. Burwell at a Reporting on Health webinar this week.

A growing body of evidence suggests that a child’s exposure to trauma and stress can have profound mental and physical health consequences later in life. Arielle Levin Becker recently set out to explore that link and collected some key reporting lessons along the way.

Requiring certain ingredients to be listed on food labels can often drive larger changes in what we consume. The U.S. required trans fats to appear on food labels in 2006, but countries such as Brazil and Argentina have gone much further in setting limits on the unhealthy fats.

How could I understand, given how little I knew? All behavior, the experts I interviewed told me, is communication. I was seeking the backstory of why a little girl had bit a school staff member and whether she had a way to express herself.