Children & Families

“In my newsroom, reporters are encouraged to have obsessions rather than beats,” Cary Aspinwall told fellows at the 2017 National Fellowship this week. “And my obsession is women in jail.”

“When you’re a foster girl, you feel unwanted,” a 21-year-old survivor said. “You’ve been through so much neglect and abuse. And then when you have a man tell you, ‘I love you, I’’ll take care of you, I’ll protect you,’ you want to believe him.”

The USC Center for Health Journalism welcomes 24 journalists from around the nation to its National Fellowships and awards them reporting grants of $2,000 to $10,000.

Arizona tends to try out new approaches and programs, but rarely sticks with such efforts long enough to bring about change.

It's those first 1,000 days — from conception until a child's second birthday — that the brain most needs the right mix of nutrients to fully form. But programs that focus on such developmental goals are now at risk.

In Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 for per capita female incarceration, kids were going missing from school because their mothers were locked up in county jail. "This was the most complicated story I’ve ever done," writes 2016 National Fellow Cary Aspinwall.

The Carribean children left behind after parents migrate can suffer from depression, low self-esteem and feelings of abandonment. Such feelings can lead to problems in school and leave kids vulnerable to abuse.

In Indian Country, generational poverty, poor schools and a lack of health care all contribute to chronically high rates of stress during childhood.

One writer shares her story of how the health care system missed repeated warning signs of preeclampsia while giving birth to her daughter. She later found her medical record was rife with mistakes and omissions.

As Portland, Oregon is hit with some of the fastest rising rents in the country due to housing scarcity, children are paying a price in little-noticed ways.