Elizabeth Whitman

Officials ordered a lobbying firm to pay back money meant for a state-funded Lifeline pilot hotline that connects at-risk young people to services.

The third episode of the investigative series co-produced with Crosscut focuses on one woman’s experience with foster care and homelessness in WA.

Now 30, Janell Braxton says she continues to reckon with the separations and instability stemming from her time in the foster system.

H-SYNC — Housing Stability for Youth in Courts — has piloted using evidence-based surveys to identify teenagers in need of support services.

The $750,000 pilot program has struggled to meet promises after state officials chose a lobbying firm to build the hotline service from scratch.

Though the funds helped dozens of young people secure housing, delays and slow spending stalled some programs in their first year.

A Way Home Washington launched an internal investigation after health and safety information on hundreds of young clients was made public.