How to cover child welfare — and not just the system
3 takeaways from Poynter’s ‘Covering Child Welfare’ course on centering kids and families
When covering the complicated, often opaque web known as the child welfare system, it can be easy to forget the first word of that phrase: child. It’s imperative that we don’t.
Reporters should center kids and families in ways that give them agency and avoid retraumatizing them, at least to the extent that’s possible. That means thinking about welfare and children holistically, taking into account their short- and long-term mental well-being.
Here are three other lessons reporters should know about covering topics like child abuse and neglect, the foster care system and keeping families together.
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