Are You Kidding Me?

In Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 68 children under the age of one overdosed on fentanyl in 2022 alone. How did this happen? And how can we fix it?In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Maralyn Beck, founder and executive director of the New Mexico Child First Network. Maralyn explains how New Mexico’s “public health approach” to babies born substance-exposed is leading more children be left in dangerous home environments with no supports or accountability. Under (CARA), the federal government made states responsible for implementing ‘plans of care’ for mothers and children who test positive for drugs at birth. New Mexico took a non-punitive public health approach: A 2019 law that barred medical professionals from referring families to Child Protective Services (CPS) solely because of parental drug use or infant drug exposure. Maralyn tells the story of a nurse whose report was ignored by CPS after ra baby’s parents were caught smoking fentanyl twice in the hospital. To address this crisis, Maralyn advocates universal screening of infants for substance exposure.. Drug use makes parenting harder, and now is the time for policymakers to provide parents with a path out of addiction and into family stability.Resources: • Parenting While High | Naomi Schaefer Riley | City Journal • Child Welfare’s Ideological Enforcer | Naomi Schaefer Riley | City JournalShow Notes:• 03:50 | A failing public health approach to CARA• 10:08 | Estimating the number of newborns in New Mexico born drug exposed• 11:01 | Child Protective Services ignoring reports from hospitals• 15:00 | Who is legally responsible for these drug-addicted infants?• 16:07 | Comparing approaches to CARA

Are black children over-reported and over-represented in the child welfare system? Are their cases more likely to be substantiated than those of white children? Are black children placed in foster care at a higher rate? In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Brett Drake, Professor of Data Science for the Social Good in Practice at the Washington University in St. Louis. Brett and a team of researchers recently published a paper examining these questions by analyzing reports of child maltreatment from 2005-2019. While it is impossible to know exactly how many children are maltreated each year, they found that black children are 2-3 times more likely to live in poverty and live in single parent households. Teen birth rates and low high school graduation rates are also 2-3 times higher in the black community. All of these factors are associated with maltreatment. Yet according to Drake’s analysis, black children are reported for maltreatment only about 1.8 times as often as white children.Once children are in the system, they discovered that black children’s cases are less likely to be substantiated and they are less likely to be placed in foster care than white children.These findings dispel the popular narrative in child welfare that racial disparities are merely the result of systemic bias. Policymakers cannot be afraid to say that black and white children often grow up in different circumstances in our society and that child protection must respond accordingly.Resources:• Racial/Ethnic Differences in Child Protective Services Reporting | Brett Drake• Children Are Dead Because Activists Say It’s Racist for ACS to Act | Naomi Schaefer Riley | New York PostShow notes:• 01:29 | Does racism explain racial disparities?• 04:51 | Estimating child maltreatment• 08:33 | An equitable response to differential risk• 16:50 | Blaming the problem is not blaming the victim

Can government child welfare agencies demand that foster parents adhere to certain ideological viewpoints, even if they are in opposition to those parents’ religious or personal beliefs? In Oregon, this remains to be seen. In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Jonathan Scruggs, Senior Counsel and director of the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. Jonathan is representing Jessica Bates, a single mother of five who filed a federal lawsuit against Oregon’s Department of Human Services after she was denied the opportunity to adopt a child out of foster care. Contrary to the department’s policy, she would not agree (hypothetically) to take a child to receive hormone shots. Jessica also would not agree to avoid religious services that did not support a (hypothetical, again) gender transition.Jonathan explains that the state of Oregon requires every parent to agree to these conditions, and failure to do so makes you ineligible to adopt any child in need of a home. Eliminating the ability for some parents to adopt because of their religious beliefs shrinks an already small pool of people who are willing and able to do this hard work. Resources:• Closing Young Minds | Naomi Schaefer Riley | City Journal• Bureaucrats Are Ripping Foster Families Apart | Naomi Schaefer Riley | National Review

Why does it take so long for some states to find safe, permanent homes for foster children?In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Sarah Font, Associate Professor of Sociology at Penn State University. Sarah recently published a report card for AEI, ranking states based on how long children wait in the foster care system to find a permanent home. The measures from the report card are taken from the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), which says that states should petition for a termination of parental rights if a child has been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months. Sarah explains that states regularly disregard these guidelines, in part out of sympathy for biological parents who lose custody of their children. But decades of research show that 20-40% of children who are reunified end up re-entering foster care due to repeated instances of abuse or neglect. Utah is the top-ranked state in the report because its policies clearly indicate how caseworkers and courts are supposed to implement ASFA. In contrast, child welfare administrators in Illinois, which ranks last, admit that they do not consider ASFA as part of their decision-making when evaluating child protection cases. States should look toward Utah as a model to make sure they are following federal guidelines and work to recruit more foster families to ensure children do not languish for years in foster care. Resources:• Timely Permanency Report Cards | Sarah Font | American Enterprise Institute• Foster Kids Need Permanent Homes | Sarah Font and Naomi Schaefer Riley | Wall Street Journal• The Government Is Uprooting Children From Loving Homes Because of Woke Views on Race | Sarah Font and Naomi Schaefer Riley | Newsweek• How Long Do Children in Foster Care Wait for Permanent Families? | AEI WebsiteShow Notes:• 01:00 | What does it mean for children in the foster care system to achieve permanency? • 03:40 | What are the guidelines for the Adoption and Safe Families Act?• 07:30 | Why are child welfare agencies and family courts reluctant to sever parental rights? • 10:15 | What states are doing well and what are the patterns with racial disparities?

In the fall of 2020, the school board of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology unanimously voted to eliminate its merit-based, race-blind admissions process. The school principal then went on record saying that she wanted more brown and black children despite minorities representing 80 percent of the school’s students.In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Asra Nomani, author of Woke Army: The Red-Green Alliance That Is Destroying America’s Freedom. Asra created the Coalition for TJ—a group of Thomas Jefferson parents, students, and alumni—which filed a legal challenge against the new admissions process in 2021. In February 2022, a federal judge ruled it was unconstitutional because the process discriminates against Asian American applicants.Asra describes how the movement of “racial balancing” at TJ has since infiltrated schools and workplaces around the country. The effort to prioritize equity over equality of opportunity has not only harmed children of underprivileged immigrant families, it also threatens to undermine the ability of American students to compete globally. Parents have rallied to preserve merit and individual achievement, and Asra believes that the next step is to galvanize the parents’ movement toward greater political engagement on the local and national level.Resources:• Woke Army: The Red-Green Alliance That Is Destroying America's Freedom | Asra Nomani• Here’s Why All Students Need Agency Rather Than Equity | Ian Rowe | New York PostShow Notes:• 01:23 | What’s been happening at Thomas Jefferson High School?• 07:10 | Where do things stand at TJ now? • 09:45 | How do we fall short at communicating that we want to create and expand opportunities for children of all races?• 12:42 | Where is public opinion on this nationwide? • 24:00 | What should parents be looking out for next?

How has woke ideology transformed schools and other institutions for young children, and what can parents do about it?In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Karol Markowicz, columnist at the New York Post and co-author of the new book, Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation. Karol compares the current progressive attempts at indoctrination of young people to education in the Soviet Union (where she was born and lived the early years of her life). There, she notes, forced conformity led to the end of merit and individual achievement. And she sees the same thing happening here. Wokeism has spread beyond just education however, and it differs from “old leftism” in that it does not allow for any deviation from orthodoxy. Professionals in once-trusted institutions are now afraid of public disagreement for fear of losing their jobs. Wokeism will not die out naturally. Karol suggests that parents should speak up about these matters, have honest discussions about politics with their children, and consider running for school board positions.Resources: • Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation | Karol Markowicz, Bethany Mandel | DW Books• Here’s Why All Students Need Agency Rather Than Equity | Ian Rowe | New York PostShow Notes:• 02:55 | What are some examples of wokeism being imposed on children?• 05:09 |Comparing wokiesm to the Soviet Union• 11:06 | Equality vs. Equity• 18:47 | Will wokeism die out on its own?• 20:31 | This isn’t just a blue state problem

In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Richard Gehrman, the executive director of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota. A new report from Safe Passage examines 88 child maltreatment fatalities in Minnesota from 2014-2022. Racial disparities in the data were evident. Black children represented 28 percent of the fatalities, but they only make up 18 percent of children in the state. Substance abuse was also a factor in almost a third of the fatalities, and about half of the deaths were tied to a non-biological parent. Richard explains that these deaths were preventable—child protection agencies, law enforcement, and mental health professionals had been alerted that these children were in danger. But little or no corrective action was taken because agencies were understaffed and workers are concerned that too much intervention will perpetuate what they see as structural bias in the system. The report from Safe Passage has received attention from public policy researchers who seem interested in producing similar reports in other states. The challenge is to persuade elected officials to prioritize meaningful legislation in response to the report’s findings. Resources:• Minnesota Child Fatalities from Maltreatment: 2014-2022 | Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota• Dangerous Illusions | Naomi Schaefer Riley | City Journal Show Notes:01:00 | What is Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota? 02:15 | How was Safe Passage able to put together this report? 05:20 | Breaking down the findings in the report 10:50 | Why do these cases get marked as low risk by the system? 14:15 | Racial disparities and substance abuse were prevalent 17:30 | The need for better communication between all professionals involved in domestic violence cases

The latest artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, is capable of writing entire essays in a matter of seconds. Just two months after its release, over 30% of college students admit to using it for some of their work. How will ChatGPT affect education, and what can educators do about it? In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Rick Hess, a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI. Rick describes how ChatGPT can mimic human writing convincingly, making it easier for students to avoid completing generic high school papers. But he hopes that this could lead teachers to assign more in-class writing, and teach the students how to approach each step of the writing process. ChatGPT can provide valuable shortcuts to students and employees alike, but the challenge is to ensure that it does not replace the development of core skills.Resources:• Will ChatGPT Unflip the Classroom? | Rick Hess | Education Week• AI, Your College Student, and the End of Individual Achievement | Naomi Schaefer Riley | Deseret NewsShow Notes:• 0:47 | How does ChatGPT threaten the flipped classroom?• 4:31 | How to measure individual achievement?• 8:40 | What about ethics?• 10:08 | ChatGPT will force educators to teach students more effectively• 20:50 | What are ChatGPT’s benefits to the workplace?

What is a teacher’s role in the classroom and how do students learn best? In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Daniel Buck, teacher, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Fordham Institute, and author of the new book, “What Is Wrong with Our Schools?” Daniel describes the philosophy of education, beginning with the classical view that teachers are the authorities in the classroom and their primary role is to transmit knowledge to their students. Starting in the 1960s, though, progressive educators Henry Giroux and Paulo Freire popularized the idea that teachers are merely guides, helping students on a path of self-discovery.Freire’s philosophy is dominant in K-12 education today, with teachers and administrators seeing teaching as a fundamentally oppressive task. This has led to innovations liked “project-based learning” or the “flipped classroom” where the student is encouraged to explore what already interests them. Not only do these strategies fail to impart important information to students, they also leave many students frustrated. Evidence suggests that students need structure, guidance, and a knowledge-based approach in order to succeed academically.Resources:• What Is Wrong With Our Schools? The ideology impoverishing education in America and how we can do better for our students | Daniel Buck | John Catt Educational• Teach for America Needs to Focus on Teaching | Naomi Schaefer Riley | Deseret NewsShow Notes:• 01:30 | How was the flipped classroom supposed to help kids? • 05:00 | What is wrong with our schools? • 07:30 | Is educating someone an oppressive task?• 15:30 | Student-centered learning advantages affluent children • 17:10 | What are the empowering alternatives?

In the summer of 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a cell phone captured video of a white police officer shooting a black man. The viral clip sparked mass protests and violent riots, culminating in Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, going to Kenosha to defend it against the protestors. The media portrayed these incidents as another example of racism in law enforcement and irresponsible gun ownership. But is there more to the story? In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Rob Montz, CEO of Good Kid Productions and creator of the documentary “The Broken Boys of Kenosha: Jacob Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse, and the Lies We Still Live By.” Rob dispels some of the common myths surrounding the shooting and reveals how partisan media coverage failed to report the underlying cause of these events. Each main character in this story lacked a present and loving father in their lives. Having a fatherless childhood has profound negative effects on boys, and Rob explains that policymakers and society need to start seeing fatherlessness as a morally urgent issue that matters for the future of the country.Resources:• The Broken Boys of Kenosha: Jacob Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse, and the Lies We Still Live By | Rob Montz | Good Kid Productions• The Power of Personal Agency | Ian Rowe | Wall Street Journal Show Notes:• 02:00 | Kenosha is an excellent case study of systemic corruption in the media environment• 05:30 | Recapping the shooting of Jacob Blake and the aftermath • 08:30 | Fatherlessness tied everyone together • 17:55 | People in Kenosha understood the impact of fatherlessness • 22:00 | Fatherlessness is a phenomenon that affects all races and can only be fixed by culture and individual agency