Eli Hager

For decades, the business lobby fundamentally moderated the nation’s immigration debate. But in the age of Trump, fearful of advocating publicly on this issue, they’ve largely prioritized other things like corporate tax cuts and deregulation.

Working-class parents often express interest in vouchers. But in Arizona, the nation’s school choice capital, these families aren’t using them due to the inaccessibility of private schools and the costs of transportation, meals and uniforms.

The state is giving millions in taxpayer dollars directly to private schools to help them renovate and expand their campuses. It may be the next frontier in the push to increase the use of school vouchers, proponents say.

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

Since a ProPublica investigation found that states were seizing child support headed to families as reimbursement for the mother having received welfare, at least six states have changed their policies. Others are debating doing the same.

Diane Baird labeled her method for assessing families the “Kempe Protocol” after the renowned University of Colorado institute where she worked for decades. The school has yet to publicly disavow it.

The Administration for Children and Families has quietly proposed closing loopholes in the nation’s cash assistance program for the poor that a 2021 ProPublica investigation found states had exploited for years.

Despite no evidence a mother mistreated her child, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services continues to enter her home without a warrant. She has filed a lawsuit, citing ProPublica’s reporting, arguing her rights are being violated.

In many states, adoption lawyers are pushing a new legal strategy that forces biological parents to compete for custody of their children.

Supporters in New York said they’ll continue to pursue legislation requiring caseworkers to inform parents of their rights during investigations by child protective services. Meanwhile, in Texas, a similar law takes effect in September.

Despite publicly claiming to support a measure that would require child protective services agents to read people their rights, the city’s Administration for Children’s Services has privately proposed gutting the bill.

A new law will grant parole hearings for prisoners given life or long sentences as children. But our reporting showed that New Mexico officials weren’t aware of at least 21 “juvenile lifers” in the state’s custody.

New legislation would require the New Mexico Corrections Department to help schedule parole hearings for prisoners given life sentences as children. But the agency wasn’t aware of at least 21 “juvenile lifers” in its custody.

Gov. Katie Hobbs said she appointed Matthew Stewart to “transform” Arizona’s troubled child welfare system. But as an election-denying Republican was gearing up to attack him, she gave up on her pick.

Matthew Stewart will become the first Black leader of the Department of Child Safety, which ProPublica and NBC News found had investigated the families of 1 in 3 Black children in metro Phoenix during a recent five-year period.

The child welfare system rarely offers the same rights as the criminal justice system, leaving many families facing permanent separation without due process protections.

One in three Black children in Maricopa County, Arizona, faced a child welfare investigation over a five-year period, leaving many families in a state of dread. Some parents are pushing back.

Each year, child protective services agencies inspect the homes of roughly 3.5 million children, opening refrigerators and closets without a warrant. Only about 5% of these kids are ultimately found to have been physically or sexually abused.

ProPublica is reporting on the Arizona Department of Child Safety. We want to hear directly from the community.

The moves follow months of reporting on punitive and outdated welfare policies in this part of the country and come amid a yearslong surge in the region’s cost of living.