How Can We Better Care for Foster Youth?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The death of a San Jose toddler in foster care has Santa Clara’s child welfare system scrambling to respond and politicians asking what went wrong. Six percent of children nationwide will enter the foster care system, primarily for reasons of neglect – which can mean conditions of poverty, homelessness, parental drug abuse or mental health issues. We’ll talk to child welfare experts about what we do right and what we could improve in caring for children deeply in need. Guests: Julia Prodis Sulek, reporter, Bay Area News Group; Sulek was part of the San Jose Mercury News team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting Janay Eustace, president & CEO, Child Abuse Prevention Center Jill Duerr Berrick, professor, School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley Sarah Pauter, executive director, John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), an organization focused on outcomes for older foster youth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:44.6	From K-Q-E-D.
0:48.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:55.0	In San Jose, Jackson was a two-year-old experiencing a very difficult early life. He's been placed in foster care with a paternal cousin, and tragically he was killed by a teen relative living in that home, according to authorities.
1:05.0	It's a horrible story, and we're going to try to explain what happened, explore the fallout, and then broaden
1:11.6	out this show to talk about the realities of the foster care system in our region and how it
1:17.5	attempts to balance really difficult values in really difficult situations. Joining us first,
1:24.3	we have Julia Proto Sulek, a reporter with the Bay Area News Group.
1:28.4	She was part of the San Jose Mercury News team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.
1:34.1	Welcome.
1:35.2	Thank you.
1:36.6	So just give us a little more, Julia, about what we know of what happened to Jackson, this two-year-old.
	...

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