The assignment was a mock reporter tip from a "neighbor" and we had to read some articles and create a "pitch" to bring to the producers:
Children with Broken Hearts. We live in a world of hardship, no one ever said life is fair. My friend is a psychiatrist for foster care kids. He has been in the profession for 30+ years, and this morning he overwhelmed me with pathos. He said, “I cannot count the number of times I have seen children on multiple medications who are really just suffering from a broken heart. And the treatment for a broken heart is not another medication.”
So I started researching source. I gathered hard data, found willing characters on all ends of the spectrum (professionals, kids in foster care, law makers, parents of foster care children) and have found a problem ripe for being brought into the light. All the elements are there, all it needs right now is for a group of solutions journalists to fit the pieces together to cause the discourse to make this happen. It seems the state is lacking in its reactions to this epidemic, and bringing the eye of the public onto these policies will be good motivators for the politicians to clean up this issue. The legislation is already there to support the kids, but the enforcement seems to be lackadaisical. This is a prime subject to report upon. Especially since it isn’t a problem limited to only California, or so research shows.
So I started researching source. I gathered hard data, found willing characters on all ends of the spectrum (professionals, kids in foster care, law makers, parents of foster care children) and have found a problem ripe for being brought into the light. All the elements are there, all it needs right now is for a group of solutions journalists to fit the pieces together to cause the discourse to make this happen. It seems the state is lacking in its reactions to this epidemic, and bringing the eye of the public onto these policies will be good motivators for the politicians to clean up this issue. The legislation is already there to support the kids, but the enforcement seems to be lackadaisical. This is a prime subject to report upon. Especially since it isn’t a problem limited to only California, or so research shows.
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