Fostering Media Connections (FMC) is a California-based nonprofit media organization that publishes journalism to lead the conversation about children, youth and families. Since launching its award-winning online news publication The Imprint in 2013, FMC has published more than 1,000 stories about child welfare and youth justice in California. 

Here are a few highlights of our work there:

2015 - Imprint reporters dig into the far-too-common practice of shuffling one in five foster youth across multiple counties in California, disrupting their lives, taking them far from family and effectively stranding them in unfamiliar places. The series of 14 stories on this topic demonstrated that this practice impacted the youths’ ability to succeed in school, access mental health services and receive prescription medications and other health care services they desperately needed. 

2020 - The Imprint co-published “Far from Home, Far from Safe” with the San Francisco Chronicle, focused on California’s use of out-of-state facilities to house foster, probation and other vulnerable youth. 

2021 - California state Assembly member Mark Stone introduced legislation to permanently end out-of-state placements, which was ultimately signed into law. In addition, several residential treatment facilities closed in New Mexico, Wyoming and Iowa, following the investigation.

2023 - The Imprint reports on California closing youth prisons, and what comes next as county juvenile justice systems take over.

2025 - An Imprint investigation found that hundreds of California children adopted from foster care have continued to be sent out of state for residential treatment at taxpayer expense — which is prohibited for those still in foster care. Four months after The Imprint asked the state for statistics, that practice was abruptly banned. 

If there are important, untold stories about foster care and youth justice in your community, we hope you’ll consider supporting FMC. With your help, we can make sure some of California’s most overlooked children, youth and families have a fighting chance at a peaceful life.