Soil tests found hazardous lead in about half of New Orleans playgrounds. Past cleanups were patchy, leaving many kids exposed and parents demanding action.
Housing and Homeslessness
Rising housing costs in Massachusetts are forcing working families to sacrifice food, lose SNAP benefits, and face impossible tradeoffs, pushing many toward food pantries or leaving the state.
In Nevada, homelessness rarely alone leads to child removal, but rising housing instability increasingly delays reunification and compounds other risks, highlighting gaps in affordable housing and prevention resources.
Clark County’s family shelters, created from former motels, are keeping unhoused families together, diverting thousands of children from foster care and saving millions by addressing housing as prevention.
In Washoe County, families who accept county-paid motel rooms when shelter beds run out are automatically referred to child welfare. Critics say the policy can deepen fear and stigma — and highlights how scarce affordable housing pushes families closer to CPS.
Ohio public housing agencies fail to consistently test rental properties for radon, leaving vulnerable tenants unaware of exposure to the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers.
A senior couple faces eviction from an affordable housing complex amid Sacramento County's failure to address 'renovictions' that advocates say intensify the affordable housing crisis.
Child welfare leaders declare victory when “kinship families” step up: Fewer children go into costly foster care and more kids stay with people they love. In truth, relatives say, child welfare agencies hand them the bill – and blame them when they can’t afford it.
All too often, when parents can’t afford safe housing, the solution child welfare services offer is putting their children in foster care.
Wisconsin has shown that it’s cost-effective and completely possible to keep families together by stabilizing their housing. That’s not the only promising development in the field.