Across the nation, more than 390,000 children rely on foster care. However, a shortage of licensed foster homes is creating a national crisis. While official foster care cases are carefully tracked, many informal examples of kinship care aren’t part of the data. For this Us & Them episode, we hear the experiences of those who’ve been part of the foster care system.
Listen: Ani DiFranco Has The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week From The Best Of 2021-Part Two
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This week’s episode looks back on more of our favorite performances from 2021, including sets from Ani DiFranco, Ruthie Foster, Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius, Curtis McMurtry, and Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neil.
For our Song of the Week, we’ve chosen Ani Difranco’s engaging performance of her song “Simultaneously,” which appears on her recent Righteous Babe release Revolutionary Love, recorded at The Clay Center here in our hometown of Charleston, W.Va.
Ani DiFranco- "Simultaneously" live on Mountain Stage
1 of 5 — Ruthie Foster performing on Mountain Stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Ruthie Foster performs during a live taping of the NPR program ‘Mountain Stage’ at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, October 24, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for NPR)
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / Mountain Stage
2 of 5
Josh Saul/ Mountain Stage
3 of 5 — Susan O'Neill
Susan O’Neill performs along with Mick Flannery on this week’s broadcast of Mountain Stage, starting October 22.
In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations - securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing.
“How come they have people living like they're in a third world country and the United States of America?” asks Bobby Keen.