More young people are entering the foster care system in Illinois, and the need for foster parents is expected to grow over the next year because of the pandemic. The 21st heard from advocates in the state about what it’s like to foster and be in foster care.
Starting next week, there will be harsher penalties for texting while driving. Also, what does it mean to tax the uber-rich? It’s a conversation happening not just in Springfield, but in Washington. Plus, hundreds of children in the Illinois foster system are being placed in homes where a language is spoken that isn’t their native one. And, the U.S. women’s team is on a mission to win a fourth World Cup.
About 100,000 Kentucky children are being raised by people other than their parents – a number that puts Kentucky above all other states. Many of these cases are because of issues stemming the opioid epidemic: incarceration, abuse or neglect; and a great number of grandparents are raising these children. This can put a grandparent in a difficult situation in a state where many people live in poverty and have big health issues.
On the 21st: We learned what foster care agencies need in order to provide better services for abused and neglected children. Plus, we talked with Peoria Journal-Star's Chris Kaergard about the history of Caterpillar.
We talked with law professor and author Daniel Hatcher about his new book on America's "poverty industry" and spoke with an Illinois lawmaker about a proposal to protect money earmarked for foster children. Plus, in our weekly look at state politics, we spoke with the Peoria journalist who finally shaved off his "budget beard."
