James and Gail Blais were barred from fostering their one-year-old great-granddaughter due to their religious beliefs. During the foster parent application process, the Washington state government led the Blaises through hypothetical questions assessing how they would respond if their great-granddaughter were to identify as homosexual or transgender at some point in the future. As Seventh-Day Adventists, the Blaises said they would certainly continue to love the child, but they could not support...
Dec 09, 2020•26 min•Ep. 27
Much research demonstrates the academic benefits of school choice. But schools don’t just convey academic knowledge to children — they also play a critical role in developing a child’s social and moral life. In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Patrick Wolf , professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas. They discuss a recent paper Wolf co-authored with AEI visiting scholar and UVA professor Brad Wilcox , exploring how enrollment in public, Catholic, Protestant, and secula...
Nov 25, 2020•19 min•Ep. 26
The Opioid epidemic has received a great deal of attention in the national media, but little has focused on how this tragic crisis is affecting children. New research suggests the drug crisis has torn at least 1.5 million children away from a parent since the mid-nineties. Such large disruptions to children’s living arrangements will have long-reaching impacts. In this episode, Ian and Naomi are joined by Kasey Buckles , a professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame. She recently co-a...
Nov 11, 2020•17 min•Ep. 25
Startling pictures of starving, neglected, naked children were the first images seen by American parents after Ceaușescu’s communist dictatorship in Romania fell in the late 80s. But a well-intentioned rush to adopt these children led to difficulties for many Romanian children and their American parents, because families and adoption agencies did not fully understand the brain damage these children had incurred under squalor conditions in Romanian orphanages. How does a lack of personal affectio...
Oct 28, 2020•18 min•Ep. 24
It is good to fight against racism in schools and in the workplace. But a new wave of “anti-bias” trainings in public and private organizations are pushing a divisive and disempowering narrative surrounding race. Organizations ranging from local school districts to the Seattle government and the Treasury Department have singled out white employees for “anti-racism” trainings and engaged in humiliating practices that studies have shown to be ineffective. In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined ...
Oct 14, 2020•17 min•Ep. 23
Loving homes are important for adoptive children, regardless of the race of the adoptee. But recent articles from the Brookings Institution and America Magazine have called into question whether race is a more important factor when matching a child with their adoptive parents. Particularly, they suggest that white parents adopting black children can be damaging. Should adoption be determined by race or by merit? What are the consequences of limiting adoption to only racial matches? In this episo...
Sep 23, 2020•17 min•Ep. 22
By nearly all measures, remote learning fell short for a majority of students in the spring of 2020. With most schools opting to forego in-person teaching this fall, educators desperately need an effective virtual learning model to guide their teaching efforts. How can teachers engage students in their coursework, even as they tune in from […] The post Remote learning that works appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
Sep 09, 2020•20 min•Ep. 21
With a large majority of public schools opting to continue remote learning this fall in lieu of reopening, parents face a unique set of challenges as home-based education becomes a more permanent fixture of life. How will life change for the millions of working parents whose children will now be at home for the fall? […] The post How to homeschool in a pandemic appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
Aug 26, 2020•16 min•Ep. 20
A member of the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families recently issued a call to abolish foster care. Is the foster care system inherently racist? Are children being removed from their homes simply because their families are experiencing poverty? How can we ensure that disadvantaged children can have a brighter, more prosperous future? […] The post Addressing racial disparities in foster care and inspiring agency in kids appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
Aug 12, 2020•17 min•Ep. 19
The Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) recently surveyed parents who receive need-based scholarships from their organization to send their children to inner-city private schools. How has the coronavirus affected the lives of low-income children attending these private schools? Were private schools in the CSF network prepared to meet the needs of vulnerable students this past spring […] The post Private schools can help low-income kids, too appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
Jul 22, 2020•16 min•Ep. 18
Young people in Detroit are suing the state of Michigan over deplorable learning conditions in many of their city’s public schools. This begs the question: Why do students need to take such extreme measures to fight for the right to learn how to read? Are these poor learning conditions caused by a lack of school […] The post Lockdown learning and children’s right to read appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
Jul 08, 2020•15 min•Ep. 17
Ian and Naomi talk to Jason Riley, a Manhattan Institute fellow and WSJ columnist, about racial bias in standardized testing and law enforcement The post Abolishing the SAT won’t help minorities. Neither will abolishing the police appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
Jun 24, 2020•20 min•Ep. 16
Penn State's Sarah Font joins to discuss the child abuse risks caused by lockdown orders, child welfare during COVID, and how officials can keep kids safe. The post Lockdown is more than an inconvenience for vulnerable children appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
Jun 11, 2020•14 min•Ep. 15
In a time of uncertainty, Ian and Naomi share uplifting news about foster care adoption rates and how to protect children from adverse experiences The post Measuring adversity (and protecting kids from it) appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
Jun 10, 2020•15 min•Ep. 14
Nobel laureate James Heckman recently made waves among early childhood advocates when he said he is not, and never was, a supporter of universal pre-K. In this episode, Katharine Stevens — a resident scholar at AEI specializing in early childhood development — joins Ian and Naomi for a riveting discussion on James Heckman’s research and […] The post Is universal child care universally beneficial? appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 27, 2020•18 min•Ep. 13
How do we promote educational opportunities for low-income children even before they start going to school? Does investing in young children really reap big benefits? Does the provision of center-based child care for families encourage low parental engagement in a child’s life? On this episode, Ian and Naomi are joined by Sarah Walzer, the CEO […] The post Parenting 101 appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 14, 2020•20 min
Ian and Naomi talk with two educational reform giants on ways to salvage the learning time lost to COVID-19 and keep kids engaged through summer learning The post Creating a national summer learning program appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 07, 2020•20 min
Before the Great Depression, charitable and religious organizations almost exclusively ran the child welfare system in the US. What is the appropriate role of private institutions in the child welfare system today? How can policy redress the perverse incentives currently built into the funding model of public child welfare agencies? In this episode, Ian and […] The post Getting the Incentives Right appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 06, 2020•22 min
Ian and Naomi delve into varied parenting-related topics in this episode, including the role of fatherhood, prison nurseries, and rising black teen suicides The post Fathers, Be Good to Your Daughters appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 05, 2020•17 min
How does family structure impact the social, educational, and economic outcomes of kids? Is the nuclear family really just a myth constructed in the 1950s? Can stable families advance the cause of social justice? On this episode of “Are You Kidding Me?” Ian and Naomi are joined by AEI Visiting Scholar and UVA sociologist W. […] The post Going Nuclear appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 05, 2020•19 min
Ian and Naomi discuss how parents can balance caretaking with teleworking and how teachers can ensure that students' living rooms are productive classrooms. The post Pandemic parenting appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 04, 2020•15 min
Child pornography is both illegal and immoral, yet it continues to proliferate throughout cyberspace. Ian and Naomi discuss what, if anything, the government and private tech companies can do to stop it. Later, they discuss the potential of predictive analytics to avoid tragedies like the murder of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins. Show Notes: – Explosion of […] The post Moneyball for child welfare appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 04, 2020•21 min
Spence-Chapin CEO Kate Trambitskaya joins Ian and Naomi to discuss routes to adoption, attitudes to birth-family contact, and ways to promote fostering kids The post Changing the culture of adoption appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 03, 2020•22 min
Children entering the foster care system have often experienced serious trauma, but there is nothing inevitable about their life’s trajectories. In this episode, Naomi and Ian discuss what happens to youth aging out of foster care, how the child welfare system can increase the recruitment and retention of foster parents, and the difference between child […] The post ‘Musical Beds’ and the shortage of foster parents appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI ....
May 03, 2020•22 min
Ian and Naomi discuss the impact of family structure on black children's outcomes and how the Indian Child Welfare Act made a "separate but unequal" system The post Family structure isn’t everything — it’s the only thing appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 02, 2020•18 min
Ian Rowe and Naomi Schaefer Riley discuss debates over the Federal Charter Schools Program, as well as the tense relationships between communities and Child Protective Services. The post Hey, Democrats — how about some power to the parents? appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 01, 2020•20 min
Hosts Ian and Naomi discuss chronic absenteeism in foster children, one judge's view on the disparate impact theory, and how IWCA aided in a child's death The post Why we offer less protection to minority kids appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
May 01, 2020•16 min
Join Naomi Schaefer Riley and Ian Rowe as they introduce AEI's newest podcast on child welfare and education: "Are You Kidding Me?" The post Welcome to: Are You Kidding Me? appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI .
Apr 30, 2020•3 min
