If you’re a pregnant person in most Southern states, there’s a better than average chance that your prenatal checkups, delivery and other healthcare are covered by Medicaid. […]
Category: Child welfare
The Southern child care crisis worsened during the pandemic
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nancy Sylvester watched with growing concern as child care centers around her own center in Jackson, Miss. […]
After its rural hospital closed, this community tried a new approach to healthcare
The only hospital in rural Pickens County, Ala., closed its doors for good just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It was March 2020. The west Alabama county sits […]
Half of Alabama’s daycares are still closed.
Every two weeks, Melissa Moody draws a little more money from her personal savings and puts it into the day care she’s been operating in […]
Daycares can reopen but will parents return?
Alabama day cares can open if they keep fewer than 12 kids to a classroom, according to Gov. Kay Ivey’s “safer at home” order, announced […]
Teens tried to catch a predator and caught a teacher
It wasn’t going to be an average Saturday night at the Calhoun County Walmart. Three 18-year-old vigilantes, best friends since grade school, staked out a […]
Expensive childcare keeps mothers out of higher-paying jobs
As soon as Antoinette Pruitt opened her acceptance letter from Samford University’s Cumberland Law School, she started planning her move to Birmingham. The 29-year-old Panama […]
Fired for having a baby? Alabama is OK with that
Haley Gentle paced the waiting room at the obstetrician’s office and reread the cryptic text message from her boss. Just three words: Will talk tomorrow. They […]
‘One of the worst abusers’: An Alabama case highlights the state’s physical child abuse problem
Serenity Renfroe, not quite 2, spilled her cereal. It scattered across the floor of the little house on Rail Splitter Road where Serenity lived with […]
Opioids lead to spike in foster care
Child protective services stepped into Bobbi Beverly’s life within days of her daughter’s birth in 2012. After the birth, Beverly tested positive for opiates and […]