Permanency Tip of the Week: Do We Really Know What is Best for Our Youth?
When working with our Youth, it is crucial that we keep their wishes and desires front and center in the decision-making process. If we are not careful, we can allow what we think is best for our Youth to influence this decision-making process. When this happens, we can disempower our Youth, lead our Youth to further distrust adults, and damage our relationship with our Youth. All these outcomes are preventable if we keep Stephen Covey’s words of wisdom I mind: Listen to understand, instead of listening to respond. Their wishes and desires may lead to outcomes that we think are negative; however, if we disregard them, we can end up doing more harm than good.
Permanency Success Story of the Week: Edna Goes the Extra Mile to Keep Siblings Together
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption – Jermesha, Floyd, and Jermain were separated for five long years while in foster care before being referred to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® program. Their world changed when Edna Green came into their life. A Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter who works for the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in St. Louis, Edna was determined to find the children a safe, loving, and permanent home, together.
“Siblings belong together,” shares Edna, “They come in to foster care together, they share trauma together, they have that bond.” Through the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, adoption professionals, like Edna, use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model that has been proven to be up to three times more effective at serving children in foster care who are often overlooked. That includes teenagers, children with special needs, and siblings…
On May 13, 2020, Jermesha, Floyd and Jermain officially became part of the Scott family. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their adoption was finalized virtually. Edna and Celeste shared the Scott family’s adoption story on the St. Louis on the Air podcast. Listen to the conversation below.
Permanency Related Articles:
A Blueprint for How State Leaders Can Achieve Better Results
Route Fifty – Now, more than ever, governors and other state leaders are relying on data and evidence to make decisions to protect citizens during the worst public health crisis in generations. Data points like confirmed cases, test positivity rates, and deaths have introduced a grim new vocabulary to governors and other leaders alongside more traditional metrics like unemployment rates, standardized test scores, and sales tax receipts…
As governors continue to face difficult decisions on balancing public health and economic stability, it’ll be imperative for state governments to invest in building their capacity to use evidence and data to get better results for their residents. A group of leading states have distilled their successes to build their data and evidence capacity into a new resource, a Blueprint for Delivering Results in State Governments, to help all state governments follow suit by conducting four key actions: 1) Manage for Results; 2) Leverage Data; 3) Build and Use Evidence, and 4) Invest for Results…
By following these four strategies, state leaders can build the capacity to continuously improve results while simultaneously demonstrating how governors can effectively use data to achieve improved outcomes for their residents. Ultimately, equipping governments with the capacity to effectively use evidence and data is a vital step toward a more equitable and prosperous future for all.
Trauma and Resiliency-Informed Telehealth Care – Video Series
UCSF – Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences – During COVID-19, telehealth has become a primary way for care providers to engage their patients. In the midst of this mass trauma, it is more important now than ever before to understand the impacts of trauma and resilience on health and behavior and to engage patients using trauma and resiliency-informed practices and principles. This series of three short videos provide a simple overview of the concepts and practices of trauma and resiliency-informed telehealth care for health care providers.
Session 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z7gwla__9M
Session 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eh6ImrPiRk
Session 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gD7WjhjLs
COVID-19 and Racism: A Call for Stronger Mental Health Support for Youth of Color
Juvenile Law Center – Protesters across the United States have proclaimed that we are facing two deadly pandemics: COVID-19 and racism. There is no questioning that COVID-19, and corresponding “stay at home” orders, have completely altered many people’s daily routines. As a society, we have struggled to adapt to a seemingly impossible way of life. The collective trauma we have experienced during this pandemic will have resounding effects on people throughout the country, and across the globe. Although systemic racism’s insidious influence extends well beyond the realm of COVID-19, the disproportionate impact on communities of color in the United States reinforces the multitude of ways that racism manifests itself, perpetrating and perpetuating harm.
The racialized impact of COVID-19 has been acutely felt by youth with experience in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, who are disproportionately Black and Latinx. The intersections of racism lived experiences in the foster care and/or juvenile justice system, and the coronavirus pandemic has made young people especially susceptible to the impact of COVID-19 and stay at home orders. Stay at home orders have disrupted youth’s education, led to the termination of their employment, or reduced their job prospects. The ramifications of these orders have resulted in housing and food insecurity coupled with heightened experiences of anxiety and depression. Although many states are beginning the process of reopening, the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s physical and emotional well-being will linger…
Mental Health and Youth Homelessness: Understanding the Overlaps
Family and Youth Services Bureau – Emphasizing mental health is fundamental to runaway and homeless youth (RHY) services. Youth experiencing or at risk for homelessness have higher rates of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and conduct disorders than those in stable homes. And a lack of access to behavioral health care further complicates most individuals’ ability to seek treatment. For organizations and providers focused on at-risk youth, prioritizing mental health is the key to long-term success for runaway and homeless teens.
Mental health is necessary for leading a successful and happy life. For youth and young adults still developing, mental health issues can be particularly crucial – this is especially true for homeless and at-risk youth…
Ontario to Overhaul Child Welfare System, Will Focus on Keeping Children Linked to Their Family
National Post – Ontario (Canada) plans to reduce by one-quarter the number of Indigenous children in foster care and have 85 percent of the time in care be with family-based placements, both by 2025, as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the child welfare system that will be announced on Wednesday in Toronto.
The reforms are aimed at changing a $1.5 billion system that has remained basically the same since the 19th century, and which focused on keeping kids alive, often with little regard to culture or successful transitions to adulthood. That system has seen thousands of children removed from their families over the decades.
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