We have long known about the replication crisis in social science research — the problem that few findings hold up in later studies. In April 2026, the largest replication project ever attempted found that only about half of the existing research holds up under further testing. This finding has profound implications for youth-serving organizations that want to follow evidence-based practices.
Saturday, May 31, is National Aging Out of Foster Care Awareness Day. The observance exists because what happens to young people at the moment the system releases them is, by most measurable standards, a national failure. Approximately 20,000 youth age out of the U.S. foster care system each year. They leave without a permanent family,…
May 31 is National Aging Out of Foster Care Awareness Day. Every year, approximately 20,000 young people reach the age of majority and exit the foster care system in the United States. They leave without a permanent family, without a home to return to after a hard week, and without the informal adult guidance that…
Every summer, youth-serving organizations across the country hire teenagers who spent the previous year as participants in their programs. A sixteen-year-old who aged out of the after-school mentoring program is now helping run the summer day camp. A high school junior who has attended your overnight program for four years is back this summer as…
In May 2025, Camp Cho-Yeh in Livingston, Texas ran what most administrators would consider a thorough background screening. Before hiring a new camp counselor, the organization used a vendor to search the Enhanced Nationwide Criminal database, the Department of Justice Sex Offender Registry, Social Security records, and county-level criminal records. All of it came back…
May is National Foster Care Month, a good time to think about how our youth organizations can help children in foster care. Not every organization is positioned to become a foster family, and we are not asking you to. But there is a wide space between becoming a foster parent and doing nothing at all,…
SEO Term: skilled trades pathways for foster youth youth organizations Trade School Is Not Second-Best: What Youth Organizations Can Do to Change the Conversation This week your calendar has two observances that belong in the same conversation. National Foster Care Day fell on Tuesday. National Skilled Trades Day is today. That overlap is coincidental. The…
SEO Term: child safety culture youth organizations What Happens After Child Abuse Prevention Month Ends: Sustaining a Child Safety Culture Year-Round I have defended many youth organizations in litigation involving harm to children. Let me tell you what the worst moment in a deposition sounds like. The attorney asks: “When did you last read your…
Child Abuse Prevention Month — April 2026 I often hear the phrase “we’re a trauma-informed organization” in conversations with YSO leaders. It appears on websites, in grant applications, and in parent handbooks. And in most cases, it means that someone on staff attended a workshop, received a certificate, and came back with a vague sense…
National Take a Chance Day — April 23, 2026 National Take a Chance Day, observed every April 23, celebrates stepping outside your comfort zone. Try something new. Take a leap. Embrace the unfamiliar. For most people, the invitation feels exciting, even liberating—a nudge toward the adventures and opportunities that caution has kept at arm’s length….