Permanency Tip of the Week: Thankful for this Serving At-Risk Children and Families
As we just celebrated Thanksgiving, it made me consider what I am thankful for in terms of my career. When I share with people how thankful I feel that I am able to spend a good deal of my professional work serving at-risk children and families, some wonder why I feel thankful about being able to do this very challenging work. I see this work as a vocation and a calling, instead of a job. It is from this perspective that my thankfulness resonates since I believe that I am doing the work I was called to do. What are you thankful for your work, especially as it relates to serving those in need?
Permanency Success Story of the Week: 150 Foster Children Become Family on National Adoption Day In Los Angeles
Patch – There is no happier day in a courtroom than during an adoption ceremony. In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, National Adoption Day is going virtual for 150 local foster children who have found “forever homes.” A total of 92 families will participate, and more than 60% of the adoptions being finalized are for siblings, officials say. Families will be kept together in a beautiful new chapter of their lives…
The Department of Children and Family Services Director Bobby Cagle spoke at the event, describing what it means for these children to become part of a stable family unit, at last.
“These children will have a stable and loving family to call their own for the rest of their lives,” Cagle said. “Today, foster parents will legally become parents, reminding their child that they deserve to be loved, protected, and most importantly, that they are not alone. With this foundation, their futures are immeasurably brighter.”
DCFS is committed to maintaining family connections by keeping siblings together whenever possible and placing children with relatives. In 2019, over half of DCFS’ finalized adoptions were relative adoptions. That year, 1,855 children in foster care in Los Angeles County were adopted through DCFS. Still, many more foster and adoptive families are needed…
Permanency Related Articles:
National Adoption Awareness Month – An Adoptive Mom’s Perspective
David and Margaret Youth and Family Services – Our family was formed through adoption from foster care. I went through the foster parent orientations and did all the work on my own, without really sharing with many friends or family that I had chosen to do so. There are so many opinions out there about why it is or isn’t a good choice to foster to adopt. I knew what I wanted and what was important to me, and I quite honestly didn’t want the distractions of other people’s opinions. I knew this was the path for me. I was fortunate to have had great examples of adoptive families in my life. My childhood bestie and his siblings were adopted, and my aunt and her husband adopted their two amazing children – making our family all the better…
15 Ways to Help Youth Who Age Out of Foster Care
Dr. John DeGarmo – Being placed in a foster home is bad enough for a child in foster care. Sadly, for far too many children in foster care, leaving the foster care system is even more traumatic. As a youth in care reaches the age of 18, in most states, the child “ages out” of the foster system, and begins the transition into “the real world.” Each year, between 20,000 to 25,000 foster children age out of the system and attempt to begin life on their own. Of the roughly 450,000 children in care in the United States each year, this is a large number and disturbing percentage.
For many children in foster care, foster care is a temporary service before returning home to a parent, moving in with a biological family member, or even beginning a new life in an adopted home. Yet, for thousands who do not find reunification with family in their lives, reaching 18 years of age can be a tremendously frightening experience. For others, 21 is the year where they may find themselves no longer part of the foster care system, depending upon the state the foster children reside in…In reality, so few are willing to help, and the future is a very bleak and tragic one for these youth, indeed.
Yet, the truth is, you can help. You can help a teen leaving foster care.
How to Handle Overstimulation During the Holidays (Podcast)
The Honestly Adoption Company – Jenn Hook – It’s officially the holiday season. That means presents, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and OVERSTIMULATION. The fact is, for our children, the holidays can produce some pretty heavy emotions. How do you navigate this with them?
It begins by understanding why overstimulation happens, and formulating a plan to handle and respond the right way to it. We are fortunate to share an amazing interview we did with our good friend, and trauma-trained therapist, Jenn Hook, founder of the Replanted Conference. In this interview, she shares practical advice and insight into why stimulation happens, and how you can respond in a way that builds trust and connection!
36th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego – Chadwick Center – January 23 – 29, 2021
COVID-19 and Child Welfare – Using Data to Understand Trends in Maltreatment and Response
Chapin Hall – Since March 2020, states across the country have taken extreme measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Stay-at-home orders and deteriorating economic conditions have placed families under stress, while children home from school have diminished exposure to adults who might detect and report abuse and neglect. Some have expressed concern that these circumstances could heighten the risk of undetected maltreatment, and that an eventual return to school will result in a deluge of child maltreatment reports that could overwhelm child welfare systems. This brief summarizes efforts to respond to these concerns and provide empirical guidance to child welfare system leaders…
Rather than focusing on how to increase mandatory reporting, efforts should be redirected to support and stabilize families to prevent child maltreatment. Understanding the factors that elevate the risk of harm to children during economic downturns and periods of social isolation can help child welfare systems to formulate adaptive responses to family needs.
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