TXICFW Policy Regarding Student Journalists

The Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing strives to produce quality information about current social issues related to child welfare, child maltreatment prevention, foster care, teen pregnancy prevention, immigration and many other issues. We are media friendly and in general, we are happy to share information. However, while we strive to be available for student reporters to help guide their learning process, we find that the number of requests and the overly broad topic requests are time-consuming for our staff.  Thus, we have created a process for student journalists to follow should they desire to use our researchers as resources. Please review these guidelines prior to making a request for an interview.

The Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing requests that:

1.  student journalists with media requests can email our Communications Coordinator, Kate McKerlie at katelynmckerlie@austinutexas.edu the following information in a polite, well-written email:
   1. Your name;
   2. Your class/professor’s name;
   3. The purpose of your story (Daily Texan article or class assignment);
   4. Three relevant, well-researched questions; and
   5. A deadline for when you need the information.
2. Students do not contact TXICFW staff/researchers directly, they MUST contact the Communications Coordinator first.
3. Students review our website content for relevant background information on a topic prior to asking questions; Our staff will not answer questions that are already addressed on our website pages, publications and reports.
4. Students have done enough research on their own to understand what questions are logical to ask a researcher. For example:

• Students do not ask broad questions such as “how does legislation impact foster care” or “explain how foster care works” because our researchers are incredibly busy and cannot individually explain complex topics to every student, particularly when that information can easily be found through background research.
• Make sure you also do research on the researcher/staff member and understand what their expertise is before you reach out.

5. Students communicate with our researchers using appropriate titles (Dr., Ms., etc).

Failure to comply with the above will result in rejection for any media requests. Thank you in advance!