YSO Insights serves two audiences with a shared purpose: keeping children safe and helping them thrive. For administrators and staff of youth-serving organizations, that means evidence-based guidance on child protection policy, mandated reporting, screening, and investigations. For Plan B parents — foster, adoptive, kinship, stepparents, and blended families — it means honest, practical guidance from people who have been there. For both, it means evidence-based ideas to encourage resilience and protect futures.
I once told one of my foster daughters something my grandmother had told me years earlier. She got quiet for a minute. Then she admitted that it had been so long since she’d seen her own grandmother that she’d forgotten what her face looked like....
Debbie Ausburn · July 23, 2026
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Does my kid need to go to college? In my work with families and young adults on their career plans, the question often comes up: “Do I really need to go to college?” As someone who holds four university degrees and one technical college degree,…
January is National Mentoring Month, and January 17 is International Mentoring Day. There’s no doubt that mentoring is an incredibly important resource for children who have suffered trauma, but it can be hard to distinguish good mentoring from predatory grooming. Those of us who parent…
A recent report out of Sacramento demonstrates how the absence of written documentation, particularly with mandated reports, can destroy careers, leave children vulnerable, and create institutional failures—even when everyone involved believes they followed proper procedures. The Investigation’s Conclusions Various staff and youth at a Sacramento…
It's very common for our kids who are close to graduation to start hearing the question, “So, what are you going to do next?” The query usually strikes fear into the hearts of many high school and college graduates because many have absolutely…
With the new year comes a lot of new opportunities for us all, usually in the form of resolutions of things to change. This annual time-to-change attitude is not a new concept. Each year we face the shift of the calendar year in anticipation and…
“Poverty is not neglect.” It’s a theme that’s been repeated often in recent years, and a statement that’s undoubtedly true. But, as I argued almost two years ago in my Substack column, repeating it as a mantra can lead to bad outcomes in which children…
Creating child protection policies is a significant milestone for youth serving organizations (YSO). But writing effective policies is just the beginning. The real challenge—and the real opportunity—lies in ensuring your child protection policy remains a living, breathing part of your organizational culture rather…
The decorations are packed away, guests have departed, and your kids are melting down. Experienced foster parents, adoptive parents, and stepparents know that things don't just return to "normal" after the holidays. What should be a special time of year can become a…
The holiday season amplifies an already painful reality for many foster, adoptive, and stepparents: the child you've committed to loving doesn't seem to want your love in return. That rejection is a unique kind of heartbreak—one that challenges our fundamental understanding…
We are soooo busy, too busy. Somehow culture has convinced us that we have to meet high expectations of America’s societal norms with extracurricular activities, busy-bodies and financial fortes. But the burdens wear on us; as people, as parents and as families. …
Holidays can be a profoundly difficult time, especially for our foster, adoptive, or stepchildren. No matter how wonderful we are as Plan B parents, their world remains fundamentally out of joint. Foster children and stepchildren in particular feel, whether consciously or not, that if the…
One common suggestion for foster, adoptive, and blended families during the winter holidays is to create new family traditions. That’s usually easier said than done, particularly when it comes to thinking of new traditions. Below are some suggestions that I’ve found for blended and foster…