Permanency Tip of the Week: Are We Making a Difference?
In this era of ever-increasing focus and reliance on generating measurable results in support of our interventions, many ask how we measure results related to Permanency efforts. With increased Permanency, we hope that our Youth will require less intensive intervention strategies, demonstrate improved social, emotional, and behavioral functioning, experience increased depth and breadth of significant interpersonal relationships, and reside in family homes. If any of these outcomes are reached, our Youth’s quality of life will improve, and our systems of care will likely experience cost savings. An important, but the potentially easily over-looked outcome of Permanency efforts is the positive impact they can have on the work-life experience of our caregivers and care providers. When we look at all these potential outcomes, it is easy to see why seeking sustained Permanency for our Youth is not only the right thing to do, it also can yield increasable results across all aspects of our systems of care.
Permanency Success Story of the Week: Such A Big Relief: Amid Pandemic, Parents Finalize Adoption Virtually via Zoom
NBC Today – A global pandemic may have the power to derail our jobs, schools, social lives and plans of any kind, but it’s comforting to know that it can’t stop this: the permanence of family. Laura and Casey Wieck had been waiting six jittery months to finalize the adoption of their son, James when the coronavirus crisis began unraveling everything. Their jitters magnified as they watched their county’s courts close to the public. How long would their adoption hearing be postponed? “There’s always this thing hanging over your shoulder: What if this doesn’t happen? What if something goes wrong?” Laura Wieck, 40, of Columbus, Ohio, told TODAY Parents. “You just want to get to that point to where everything is finalized and legal. That unknown and that waiting — you feel it…”
The Wiecks’ adoption of James was arranged by Adoption Link Inc., an Ohio agency that specializes in open adoptions. In the Wiecks’ case, that means James always will know who his birth mother is and will see her in person at least twice a year.
As soon as social distancing requirements end, the Wiecks plan to bring baby James to Judge O’Diam’s courtroom in person. O’Diam said he can’t wait to invite the family up to the bench to pose for photos and let baby James bang the gavel. O’Diam said he’s also hoping to make Zoom video conferencing an ongoing feature in his courtroom so that out-of-town family members can watch adoption hearings and cry happy tears in real-time.
“It is the most heartwarming experience you could ever have,” the judge said.
Permanency Related Articles:
Children in Foster Care Among Those at Risk Amid Pandemic
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption – WCBS-TV (NY) – The White House confirmed Tuesday that communities of color and the poor are getting hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and foster care are among those falling through the cracks. “It impacts their survival rate and it impacts how they’re able to handle this crisis,” said Shantell Lewis, a foster care recruiter with Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. Lewis works every day to find homes for some of New York City’s 7,000 children in the foster system. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even harder to keep these kids safe and healthy…
In the city, social workers worry about this pandemic’s lasting impact on foster kids and those on the verge of adulthood. “It’s going to be even harder for us to get people to open their home and take children in,” Lewis said. Rita Soronen is president of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which works with the city’s Administration for Children’s Services. “For those youth that aged out of care, got themselves to college, and now colleges have closed down … we have children at risk of being homeless because they simply have no place to be,” Soronen said. Disease may not discriminate, but its effects are hitting some communities harder than others.
Canadian Public Advisory: Supporting Transition Aged Youth during COVID-19
Newfoundland and Labrador Government (CA) – Youth involved with the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development’s in care, kinship, and youth services programs will continue to be supported during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The department currently provides a broad range of supports and services to youth aged 16 to 21 through kinship services, in care, and youth services programs and is positioned well through current policy to continue supporting this vulnerable population during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, youth who were in care are already eligible to receive services voluntarily from the Youth Services Program until the age of 21. As a result of COVID-19, the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development has made temporary policy enhancements to its Youth Services and Kinship Programs to ensure transition-aged youth do not lose access to required supports during the COVID-19 situation.
For youth set to age out of these programs and services over the next few months, the department’s social workers are reaching out to let them know the supports can continue during this time. The social workers will resume or commence transition planning with the youth once it is safe to do so.
Coronavirus Precautions for Foster Youth: NPR
NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Congresswoman Karen Bass, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, about how universities are considering foster youth in their coronavirus precautions.
COVID-19 and Child Welfare Cases
American Bar Association (ABA) – This webinar highlights the federal government’s recent guidance on emerging legal issues in child welfare cases. The webinar also helps attorneys and judges apply that guidance in case-by-case decision-making on topics like visitation and family time, access to services in the case plan, due process and civil rights protections during remote court hearings, reasonable efforts findings, family reunification, termination of parental rights timelines, and other important aspects of a child welfare legal proceedings that may be affected by the pandemic.
How Can We Better Engage Fathers in Prevention?
Casey Family Programs – Fathers have a critical role to play in children’s physical, emotional, and social development and are essential partners in the prevention of maltreatment and achievement of timely permanence. A range of organizational strategies and resources are available for child welfare leaders who want to better support fatherhood initiatives and interventions in order to improve children’s safety, permanency, and well-being. 1) The essential role of fathers; 2) Strengthening father engagement across the child welfare system…
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Take care and keep up the Permanency work – Our children, youth, young adults, families, and communities are depending on it!