National outlet spotlights Foster America’s call to protect families, not cut support

Federal leaders are weighing spending proposals that could devastate the very programs that keep families stable — programs like Medicaid, housing supports, and food assistance. These investments prevent crises, reduce foster care placements, and save money in the long run.

In a new op-ed in The Imprint — an independent daily news outlet focused on the nation’s child welfare and youth justice systems — Foster America executive director Marie Zemler Wu and Elizabeth Wyner of the Doris Duke Foundation, a longtime supporter of our work, outline the high stakes of short-term budget cuts and the long-term costs that families, children, and communities will pay if prevention supports are stripped away.

The piece highlights:

• How proposed cuts to Medicaid would devastate families who rely on counseling, treatment, and kinship support to stay safely together.
• Why foster care, while necessary in certain cases, was never meant to raise children — and relying on it as the default is both harmful and fiscally reckless.
• Real examples from states like New Jersey, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Idaho, where communities are proving that prevention works.
• The bipartisan history — including the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act — of investing in families before a crisis, and the urgent need to continue that progress.

👉 Read the full op-ed in The Imprint