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Parenting

How ‘Shadow’ Foster Care Is Tearing Families Apart

Across the country, an unregulated system is severing parents from children, who often end up abandoned by the agencies that are supposed to protect them.

Lizzie Presser New York Times Magazine Dec 2021 Permalink

How Child Care Became the Most Broken Business in America

Biden has a plan to make day care more affordable for parents—if the providers don’t go out of business first.

Claire Suddath Bloomberg Businessweek Nov 2021 20min Permalink

Good Mother

Child custody, colonization, and the choices mother make

Sierra Crane Murdoch Harper's Sep 2021 30min Permalink

He Beat Her Repeatedly. Family Court Tried to Give Him Joint Custody of Their Children.

Shared parenting is usually better for children—but the model fails for many women forced to co-parent with their abusers.

Megan O’Matz ProPublica Sep 2021 25min Permalink

Travel

New York State of Mind

The city through the eyes of a four-year-old.

Chris Colin Afar Oct 2014 15min Permalink

Health

The Child Care Industry Was Collapsing. Mrs. Jackie Bet Everything on an Impossible Dream to Save It.

Jackie Thomas was $29,134 in debt and in trouble with state regulators. She hadn’t slept in days. If a judge ruled against her, she’d fail the mothers who could only keep their jobs thanks to the 24-hour child care she offered.

Lizzie Presser ProPublica May 2021 25min Permalink

Sports

My Month of Doing 100 Wheelies a Day

A rider’s self-improvement project becomes a whole lot more.

Kim Cross Outside Mar 2021 Permalink

Science Health

The Last Children of Down Syndrome

Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning.

Sarah Zhang The Atlantic Nov 2020 35min Permalink

Best Article Crime

A Family Matter

Each year, California’s child protective services agencies remove thousands of kids from their homes. The story of how some parents decided to fight back.

Jessica Weisberg The Atavist Magazine Aug 2016 Permalink

Lost in the Waves

Swept out to sea by a riptide, a father and his 12-year-old autistic son struggle to stay alive. As night falls, the dad comes to a devastating realization: If they remain together, they’ll drown together.

Justin Heckert Men's Journal Nov 2009 25min Permalink

Facing the Wind

Trying to parent my Black teenagers through protest and pandemic.

Carvell Wallace New York Times Magazine Jun 2020 30min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "There Is No Baby In This Story"

An antique high chair; the complexities of parenting and growing.

Chelsea Sutton Pithead Chapel May 2020 Permalink

Health

I Can’t Answer My Daughter's Questions About COVID-19

On parenting during a pandemic.

Kevin Koczwara Esquire Apr 2020 15min Permalink

Health

I Know The Day We Got It

A week in the life of a family weathering the coronavirus.

Reyhan Harmanci The Cut Apr 2020 10min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "The Green Bridge"

A girl spends time with her mentally unstable mother.

Cathy Mellett Atlas & Alice Sep 2019 10min Permalink

Crime

The Life and Times of Strider Wolf

When he was 2, Strider was severely beaten by his mother’s boyfriend. Today, at 6, Strider lives with his grandparents in rural Maine, in and out of poverty, trying to make it.

Sarah Schweitzer Boston Globe Nov 2015 35min Permalink

Best Article

My Father’s Fashion Tips

The writer on his father’s religious devotion to personal style. Among the maxims: “the turtleneck is the most flattering thing a man can wear”; “there is nothing like a fresh burn”; and “always wear white to the face.”

Tom Junod GQ Dec 1996 30min Permalink

Best Article Health

Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis

The answer to the disparity in death rates has everything to do with the lived experience of being a black woman in America.

Linda Villarosa New York Times Magazine Apr 2018 40min Permalink

Health

'For Five Years We Dreaded Every Meal'

After two months in the hospital, a mother finally got to take her premature baby home. Then she spent five years trying to convince him to eat.

Tahmima Anam The Guardian Apr 2019 35min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "Not Everyone is Special"

Magic powers meet everyday problems.

Josh Denslow The Offing Apr 2019 20min Permalink

Bastard

“Neither of my parents was exactly who I thought they were.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel The Cut Dec 2018 20min Permalink

Best Article Science Health

Never Let Go

On being the parent of a micro preemie.

  1. Part One: Lost and Found

    A daughter is born, four months too soon.

  2. Part Two: The Zero Zone

    Juniper’s first few weeks.

  3. Part Three: Baby's Breath

    Miracles, in little pieces.

Kelley Benham The Tampa Bay Times Dec 2012 1h20min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "Glyph Atlas"

A father's death, mysterious texts, and bodily/environmental changes.

Blake Butler The Collagist Dec 2018 15min Permalink

Fiction

Fiction Pick of the Week: "What Fundamentalists Do"

While visiting a new church, a teenager questions her faith.

Virgie Townsend Pithead Chapel Dec 2018 10min Permalink

Targeted

What if your son’s school thinks he might be a potential school shooter?

Bethany Barnes The Oregonian Jun 2018 15min Permalink

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