On this week’s episode, The Imprint’s Nancy Marie Spears sits down with reporter Suzette Brewer to discuss her recent two-part series on the tragic past and promising future of birth justice for the Native American community. The series examines the use of sterilization on Indigenous women, a practice many believe was intended to facilitate the dying out of tribes, and the more recent efforts to build a birth justice movement in the Native American community. 

Spears and Brewer discussed their reporting careers, covering the Indian Child Welfare Act, and how her recent series came together over the course of a decade.

Suzette Brewer is a journalist specializing in federal Indian law and social justice, with a focus on issues affecting Native women and children. She has reported extensively on the Indian Child Welfare Act, the U.S. Supreme Court, Native voting rights, environmental justice in Indian Country, and the opioid crisis. 

Brewer is a recipient of the Richard LaCourse–Gannett Foundation Al Neuharth Investigative Journalism Award, a John Jay/Tow Juvenile Justice Reporting Fellow, and a 2024 National Fellow with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is from Stilwell, Oklahoma.

Episode Timeline

0:00-9:10: Reporting on the Indigenous community

9:11-18:00: Covering the Indian Child Welfare Act

18:01-1:02: Suzette Brewer's two-part series on the history of forced sterilization and the future of birth justice in the Indigenous community

Reading Room

For Centuries, Native Women Have Been Told to ‘Trust the Doctor.’ The Results Have Been Disastrous.

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/for-centuries-native-women-have-been-told-to-trust-the-doctor-the-results-have-been-disastrous/271389

Birth Justice: The Fight for Reproductive Freedom in Indian Country

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/birth-justice-the-fight-for-reproductive-freedom-in-indian-country/271753

Reporting by Nancy Marie Spears

https://imprintnews.org/author/nancy-marie-spears

In this episode of InnerViews, Ivory speaks with Tashaun Sudlow and Sarah Robinson about youth voice, credible messengers, and community-led change in Brooklyn. Through artivism and coalition-building, they explore how young people transform lived experience into advocacy, healing, and action. This conversation highlights the power of storytelling as both resistance and restoration.

On this week’s episode we are joined by Marc Schindler of Georgetown’s Center for Youth Justice, to discuss the Forgotten Children’s Initiative, which was born of research that he led about the history of the Maryland House of Reformation & Instruction for Colored Children between 1877-1939. As part of that research, it was discovered that more than 300 children are buried in an unmarked cemetery near where the House of Reformation was located in Cheltenham, Maryland. 

We discussed that important and heartbreaking work, and how Schindler sees this research project in the context of current discussions around reforming the juvenile justice system in Maryland and elsewhere. 

Marc Schindler is a research professor and senior fellow at the Center for Youth Justice at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and former assistant secretary & chief of staff of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. 

Reading Room

The Racist Roots of Youth Justice Are Buried Deep

https://imprintnews.org/opinion/the-racist-roots-of-youth-justice-are-buried-deep/273246

Forgotten Children: Unearthing the Lives Behind the Lost Burial Sites of Incarcerated Youth

https://cyj.georgetown.edu/forgotten-children/

‘Incorrigible’ No More: In Rare Memorial Service, Graveside Tribute Paid to New York’s Formerly Incarcerated Girls

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/new-york-memorial-service-incarcerated-girls/250819

Torture of Kids Remembered: A North Florida reform school acknowledges its history of abuse.

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2008/10/26/torture-of-kids-remembered/

Nickel Boys

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_Boys

On this week’s episode we start by discussing the new update to Who Cares, which is The Imprint’s project on foster care capacity data around the country, and how it connects to the Trump administration’s central child welfare goal for the president’s second term. We also review some recent Trump administration actions related to LGBTQ youth in foster care, and what some recent research on juvenile detention and congregate care suggests about mental health services for youth. 

Reading Room

Who Cares Project

https://fostercarecapacity.com/

The Latest on A Home for Every Child

https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/latest-a-home-for-every-child/271534

Mapping A Home for Every Child: Where Do States Stand?

https://bit.ly/4716Gq0

ACF is Rescinding Biden-Era Rule on LGBTQ Foster Care Placements

https://bit.ly/3PcoZCv

Trump Appointee Demands States Roll Back Foster Parenting Rules That Aim to Protect LGBTQ+ Youth

https://bit.ly/47xLA2E

Feds Warn States: Family Gender Disputes Should Not Lead to Child Welfare Cases

https://bit.ly/3PmDfZo

Trump Administration Slashes Number of Regulatory Guidance Docs at ACF

https://bit.ly/3P2KJAT

Bipartisan Report Raises Alarm Over Widespread Incarceration of Children With Mental Health Needs

https://bit.ly/4sKSeLd

In Many States, Federal Funding Restrictions on Foster Care Group Facilities Has Not Reduced Placements

https://bit.ly/4sLerbW

HHS Should Clarify Guidance on State Spending for Congregate Care

https://files.gao.gov/reports/GAO-26-107592/index.html

Michigan Lawmakers and Boarding School Survivors Speak Out on Shelved Indian Boarding School Report

https://bit.ly/3NAeFnr

For Centuries, Native Women Have Been Told to ‘Trust the Doctor.’ The Results Have Been Disastrous.

https://bit.ly/40xAJCc

Birth Justice: The Fight for Reproductive Freedom in Indian Country

https://bit.ly/3N7X85Y

NY Judges Greenlight Class-Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Children Denied Foster Placement With Relatives

https://bit.ly/4sQf5VS

Amid Outcry, Foster Youth Advocate Detained by ICE

https://imprintnews.org/special-series/amid-outcry-foster-youth-advocate-detained-by-ice

Youth Sound Off: Foster Youth Speak Out on ICE’s Attacks in Minnesota

https://bit.ly/4uOoPBR

On this week’s episode we talk to Naomi Goldstein, who for nearly two decades led the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). We discussed the way that the federal government decides what to research and how it gets the job done. And why she thinks the Trump administration’s recent decision to decentralize research at ACF is a mistake. 

Naomi Goldstein was the deputy assistant secretary for planning, research, and evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families.  She is currently a registered nurse in Washington, D.C.

Reading Room

Restructuring on the Horizon for ACF’s Research Branch

https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/restructuring-on-the-horizon-for-acfs-research-branch/271096

Happy Birthday OPRE!

https://acf.gov/archive/opre/blog/2024/08/birthday2024

On this week’s episode we talk to Marsha Levick, co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center, who stepped down last year after serving for decades as the organization’s chief legal officer. We discussed the origins of the center and how it survived, how to write a good amicus brief, the Kids for Cash scandal and more. 

Marsha Levick is a co-founder and former chief legal officer for the Juvenile Law Center. She is currently the Phyllis W. Beck Visiting Chair in Law at Temple Law School.

InnerViews is trying something new. In this special episode, we bring you the audio from Youth Voices Rising’s powerful webinar, Love Shouldn’t Hurt. Panelists with lived child welfare experience reflect on how trauma, housing instability, and system involvement can shape beliefs about love and safety. This honest conversation explores survival-based relationships, healing, and what it takes to build emotionally safe connections. Listener discretion advised.

On this Headlines edition of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, we start with a discussion of three medication-assisted treatments for substance use that the Trump administration has cleared for federal child welfare funding.

Also discussed on this episode: new national data on abuse and neglect investigations, Georgia’s budget woes, and two alarming indicators of the workforce crisis in youth justice. 

Reading Room

Top Trump Health Officials Announce New Funding for Opioid Addiction Treatment To Prevent Foster Care Removals 

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/top-trump-health-officials-announce-new-funding-for-opioid-addiction-treatment-to-prevent-foster-care-removals/270780

Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for Prevention

https://imprintnews.org/uncategorized/rolling-out-the-welcome-mat-for-prevention/270728

Maltreatment Reports, Victims and Fatalities All Down in 2024

https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/maltreatment-reports-victims-and-fatalities-all-down-in-2024/270409

Child Maltreatment 2024

https://acf.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/cm2024.pdf

Georgia Child Welfare Cuts Called ‘Unacceptable,’ House Proposes Budget to Relieve Foster Care Deficit 

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/georgia-child-welfare-cuts-called-unacceptable-house-proposes-budget-to-relieve-foster-care-deficit/270856

‘Where I Felt Loved:’ Renovated Housing Complex Supports Georgia Foster Youth Transitioning to Independence

https://imprintnews.org/foster-care/where-i-felt-loved-renovated-housing-complex-supports-georgia-foster-youth-transitioning-to-independence/270632

Beshear Wants More Juvenile Detention Centers. KY Can’t Staff Existing Ones

https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article314389699.html

‘Worse Than Rikers’: Lawsuit Claims Abusive Use of Solitary Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Lockups

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/ny-official-responds-to-reports-of-abusive-conditions-in-youth-detention-facilities/270814

On this week’s episode we talk to Don Wells, the Chief Empowerment Officer at Just In Time, which is a San Diego based organization working to support and mentor older foster youth on their path to adulthood. 

President Trump signed an executive order on foster care at the end of 2025 which instructed his Department of Health and Human Services on some priorities for federal policy around improved data and evaluation, more support for older foster youth, and more efforts to include faith-based persons and organizations in child welfare services.

The Imprint recently published an op-ed from Wells, who felt that the president’s order misses the mark on what is needed from the federal government to better support foster youth. He joined the podcast to speak further about his views on the Trump order, about what Just in Time does on the community level to help foster youth, and more. 

Don Wells is the Chief Empowerment Officer at Just In Time. He is a recent recipient of the Casey Excellence for Children Leadership Award

Reading Room

Don Wells of Just in Time for Foster Youth Honored with Casey Excellence for Children Leadership Award
https://www.thevistapress.com/don-wells-of-just-in-time-for-foster-youth-honored-with-casey-excellence-for-children-leadership-award/

Just in Time for Foster Youth

https://jitfosteryouth.org/

With New Executive Order, Trump Thrusts Foster Care Into National Spotlight

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/with-new-executive-order-trump-thrusts-foster-care-into-national-spotlight/268739

Fostering the Future for American Children and Families

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/11/fostering-the-future-for-american-children-and-families/

In this restorative Season 3 premiere of InnerViews, host Ivory Bennett reunites with Dr. Alison Davis for a soulful conversation on renewal, emotional safety, and intentional becoming. Together, they reflect on the lessons of the past season, explore what no longer serves them, and name what deserves to be carried forward. This episode invites listeners to pause, breathe, and consider how healing, boundaries, and self-compassion can shape the life they’re building next.