South Dakota Focus on the Child (Season 29)

SDPB News presents South Dakota Focus

The interim appropriations committee heard the latest on developments to child care grant opportunities at its latest meeting.

If the shortage of providers is going to change, it will require a lot of people like Cordelia Rieck, who has chosen to pursue the career her mother started 20 years ago.

A new survey asks providers and parents about child care in their communities. We get a big-picture look from Audrey Rider, an early childhood field specialist.

The child care crisis in South Dakota is continues to put a strain on families and businesses.

Join SDPB for a follow-up discussion to the child care crisis the entire state faces.

South Dakota has more children in foster care than foster families licensed to care for them. Two young women who aged out of the foster system share their stories, and two current foster families talk about the dire need.

The effects of child trauma coupled with recent changes in state juvenile justice policy have left some families to fall through the cracks. For others, juvenile diversion programs offer a second chance to stay out of the juvenile justice system altogether.

State officials say South Dakota is in need of more people to help foster children. South Dakota Focus spoke to two families about the system, the challenges and what it will take to get more people involved.

Diversion programs can help low-offending juveniles avoid getting entangled in the criminal justice system. Lawmakers recently upped the reimbursement rate to counties for these programs, but not every community has the same resources.