Deepa Fernandes is an award-winning journalist who has reported in a dozen countries—from Peru to Cuba to East Timor. Fernandes has reported from inside rebel-controlled prisons during a Haitian coup, slum villages in Mumbai, and immigration jails across the U.S. In 2001, Fernandes founded People’s Production House, aimed at diversifying the press corps and the range of voices heard in the media. She authored a book on immigration in 2007, Targeted, published by Seven Stories Press.
Fernandes has won numerous awards for her reporting on children from prenatal to age five, including the L.A. Press Club’s Radio Journalist of the Year for 2017, 2018, and 2019. Most recently, Fernandes was the early childhood correspondent at Southern California Public Radio, KPCC. Fernandes is a correspondent at KCET’s SoCal Connected, and files global stories for PRI’s The World. Her work can also be heard on NPR, Marketplace, the BBC, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Fernandes became the Pacific Oaks early childhood reporting fellow in 2019.
Ms. Fernandes’ stories during her fellowship have aired on a variety of public radio stations across California and around the country. The links below include print editions of the stories as well as links to the audio versions.
Why California’s Universal Transitional Kindergarten Plan Poses a Threat to Some Early Childhood Ed Providers
In 2025, universal preschool will be coming to California public schools, but there are many concerns associated with this new initiative. How will the loss of 4-year-olds affect privately run centers, are elementary school campuses set up to handle the specific needs of 4-year-olds, and what will the curriculum look like? (Published: October 26, 2021, KQED)
Unsafe in Foster Care
Audio: https://www.latinousa.org/2021/07/16/unsafeinfostercare/
Print Version, “Investigating the death of a baby in foster care: Could it have been prevented”: https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/foster-care-jay-ellis/child-welfare-joseph-chacon (Published July 15, 2021, KCRW)
Interview with Ms. Fernandes on All Things Considered: https://www.npr.org/2021/07/20/1018501145/unsafe-in-foster-care-investigates-how-how-a-system-to-keep-kids-safe-can-harm-t
An investigation into Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the largest child welfare agency in the U.S., and what happens when the system that is meant to protect these children falls short—and even puts their lives at risk. (Airdates: July 9 and 16, 2021, Latino USA, KPCC and KQED)
Without Walls: How Some LA and OC Schools are Embracing Outdoor Learning
Schools are utilizing outdoor classrooms to get children, especially young children, back to school. One LAUSD school’s outdoor learning set-up includes planted shrubs as boundaries, wicker chairs, tree stumps, and natural-toned desks. An Orange County Waldorf-based charter school arranged inside and outdoor classrooms, where groups would rotate and could benefit from learning outside. Their youngest learners benefit from a full-time outdoor kindergarten which includes a children’s garden and art space. (Airdate: April 18, 2021, KQED)
To Ditch the Screen, Los Angeles Schoolchildren Escape to the Great Outdoors for In-Person Science
Los Angeles Unified School District first to fifth graders are spaced 6 feet apart in a L.A. city park and learn about science outdoors. Zoom school is not providing what all kids need, and children of color are falling further behind their white peers. Outdoor learning fosters hands-on learning, which is especially needed for youngest students. (Airdate: March 31, 2021: KQED)
L.A. Unified Brings Classrooms to Students
https://www.kqed.org/news/11866898/l-a-unified-brings-classrooms-to-students
Public school students will not be returning to the classroom at L.A. Unified schools until later next month. But the district has been helping those who have fallen behind academically, through mobile science labs in city parks. (Airdate: March 29, 2021: KQED)
What COVID-19 Has to Do with the Rising Number of Kids in LA’s Child Welfare System
https://www.kqed.org/news/11864559/what-covid-19-has-to-do-with-the-rising-number-of-kids-in
In Los Angeles County, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has trickled down to some of the most vulnerable residents: kids in the child welfare system. The number of kids in the system rose dramatically during 2020, according to data released by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services. At the end of 2020, there were 3,535 more children in the system than in 2019, a spike of 10% over the previous year. (Airdate: March 13, 2021, KQED)
New California Child Care Union Asks for State for Help During Pandemic
Childcare workers now have a direct line to California officials to make the case that more resources are needed to do their job safely, as the newly ratified Child Care Providers United union had its second bargaining session with the state. (Published December 22, 2020, KQED)
New Union Negotiates with State on Behalf of Child Care Providers
https://www.kqed.org/news/11851808/icu-capacity-drops-to-zero-percent-at-many-l-a-area-hospitals
A report on childcare providers negotiating with the State through their new union. (Airdate: December 18, 2020, KQED)
Is it Safe for a Baby or Toddler to Stay at Day Care Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Preschool and early care center directors across the county have had to go to great lengths to convince prospective parents that their facility is as safe from COVID-19 transmission as can possibly be. Now more than ever, access to quality early care and education is important for young children’s development during the current child-care crisis. But are parents convinced? (Airdate: October 6, 2020, KCRW)
Home Daycares Are Shutting Down When Essential Workers Need Them the Most
Parents who cannot work remotely need childcare facilities more than ever, but the daycares say they may have to close if they do not get more support from the state. This was Fernandes’ first radio piece previewing the first ever collective bargaining meeting by home based childcare providers who have unionized. (Airdate: September 16, 2020, KQED. Story starts at 6.45)
Why Some Black and Latinx Families Lose Access to Nature During Pandemic
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/nature-race-lausd-santa-monica/education-nature-race
For some Black and Latinx families, shelter-in-place orders cut off access to nature. Neighborhoods without open green spaces or parks have been hit the hardest, along with areas where houses lack yards. COVID-19 disproportionately impacts communities of color, as families choose to stay inside because of the pandemic at the same time public nature and outdoor programs are cancelled. Pacific Oaks Journalism Fellow Deepa Fernandes reports on “Why some Black and Latinx families lose access to nature during the pandemic.” (Airdate: June 10, 2020, KCRW)
Let It Go: ‘Frozen’ Isn’t A Great Babysitter, But Not All Screen Time is Bad for Kids
This story examines the impact of vastly increased screen time on toddlers and preschoolers now that they are at home and parents are working or using screens with them more. Fernandes speaks with early childhood experts and educators, including Pacific Oaks M.A. Human Development alumna, Jocelyn Robertson. Robertson is the director of Cottage Co-Op Nursery School in Pasadena, CA. (Airdate: May 13, 2020, KCRW)
Extremely Separate and Widely Unequal
https://laist.com/projects/2019/preschool-segregation/
65 years after the Supreme Court desegregated public education, California’s public preschools are almost entirely nonwhite. This 3-part radio series aired as part of the “Take Two” program. (Airdate: December 2019, KPPC)
Child Care Providers Celebrate New Law Allowing Them to Unionize
A story on the victory by home-based child care providers to unionize. PO Fellow was one of the first reporters to break the story moments after Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill (Airdate: 9/13/19, KCRW)
Mothers and Babies Lack Basic Needs in Greek Refugee Camps
https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-07-22/mothers-and-babies-lack-basic-needs-greek-refugee-camps
Part II on the refugee crisis in Greece. This is a look at the growing rate of children under five who are asylum seekers and what lessons might we learn from the age population of migrants arriving in the U.S. (Airdate: 7/22/19, PRI The World)
These Asylum-Seekers Won Their Refugee Cases in Greece. Some Wish They Hadn’t.
This global report is part 1 on Greece’s refugee crisis, a story on evicting families who have won their asylum cases. (Airdate: 6/27/19, PRI The World)
When Parents Work the Night Shift, Babies Need a Safe Place to Sleep
Los Angeles County has many shift workers. This story focuses on 24-hour childcare, and how small children are cared for when there is no one to leave them with at home. (Airdate: 5/21/19, KCRW)
A Bold New Early Childhood Plan for California Aims for ‘Equity’
https://www.kqed.org/news/11743975/a-bold-new-early-childhood-plan-for-california-aims-for-equity
A story on California’s Blue Ribbon Commission’s final report, which calls for paid family leave, more home-visiting nurses, better training for the early care workforce and developmental screenings for every child. The report emphasizes that the crisis in the state’s early care system disproportionately affects children of color. (Airdate: 4/30/19), KQED)
SERIES: 4-Part Series on High Levels of Impoverished Babies in California
The month of April included coverage on the little-reported area of early childhood poverty and aired statewide. While California has the highest child poverty levels in the country, it barely rates a mention. The four-part series aired on every major public radio station in California.
- Part 1: APRIL 3, 2019 – Baby Poverty in California, Why It’s So Bad Here
https://www.kqed.org/news/11736901/childhood-poverty-californias-moral-outrage
- Part 2: APRIL 4, 2019 – Baby Poverty: The Plight
https://www.kqed.org/news/11737207/without-affordable-child-care-escaping-poverty-is-tough
- Part 3: APRIL 5, 2019 – Baby Poverty: Is Anyone Doing Anything?
- Part 4: APRIL 12, 2019 – Baby Poverty Impacts Health
Day Care Workers Explore Options to Unionize
This story explores the poor working conditions of Family Child Care Providers outside Sacramento and their strategy of unionizing to win better conditions. (Airdate: 2/25/19, KCRW)
How Many Babies Are Homeless? No One Knows
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/how-many-babies-are-homeless-no-one-knows
This piece highlights the plight of homeless babies and toddlers and why they are not specifically counted/documented in LA’s annual homeless count. (Airdate: 2/1/19, KCRW)
