Permanency Tip of the Week: Remaining Focused on Permanency in spite of a Crisis
Often during the course of our Permanency efforts, we are faced with having to handle a crisis in the life of the Youth that we are serving. Sometimes there is pressure to halt the Permanency work until the Youth “stabilizes.” How would we want that handled if something similar happened in our life? If we were reconnecting with friends / relatives and then suddenly lost our job, home or health – we would not want to stop connecting with our relatives. Let us remember the importance of serving our Youth the way that we would want and need to be served if we were facing similar challenges.
Permanency Story of the Week: 2015 Casey Excellence for Children Awards
Casey Family Programs is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 Casey Excellence for Children Awards. This year we are recognizing 12 outstanding individuals and leaders in child welfare who have demonstrated distinguished work, exceptional leadership and relentless dedication in improving child welfare systems in America. Award winners are selected from among a group of nominees in five categories: birth parents, alumni of foster care, foster parents, kinship caregivers, and child welfare leaders.
Current Permanency related articles:
Dinner Time is Family Time at Boys Town
When you’ve got a Boys Town Family Home℠ full of up to eight teenage boys or girls, things can be hectic to say the least. Add in homework and extracurricular activities, and it becomes evident pretty quickly that just sitting down for a family meal requires planning and perseverance.
But every Boys Town Family-Teacher® knows the importance of the family meal. That is why they get everyone together at the table at least once a day to break bread, share stories and bond with each other. This is part of the Boys Town Model®. And studies show that when families eat together, their children tend to do better in life because dinner offers families a time to sit down and talk, which promotes closeness, trust and comfort.
And to see an actual Boys Town family dinner in action, click here.
Darla Henry 3-5-7 Model – Spring Time
The emergence of spring after a long winter can evoke many thoughts and feelings. Some are urged to do spring cleaning, others to work the soil but the coming of Spring always reminds me of the resilient qualities of nature.
Based on the premise that children are resilient and have, within them, the capabilities to mourn the losses they have lived, and to engage in renewing and rebuilding relationships, the 3-5-7 model promotes the belief that children are whole, not broken. While they may have been victimized, they are not viewed as victims. As we see signs of spring unfold around us, let’s be renewed in our efforts to support the work of children, youth and families in grieving their losses and rebuilding their relationships towards the goals of well-being, safety and permanency.
Closure Documentary: Witnessing an Adoptee’s Journey
The lights dimmed, and the humming discussion of the audience grew still. We all sat, transfixed, as the screen came to life. We were all there to witness Angela’s story. The story of an adoptee seeking to find some closure for the gaping uncertainties in her identity and history. When Bryan Tucker first contacted me several years ago, he was making a documentary film called Closure. The film was about his wife Angela’s search for her birth family. Angela is an African American adoptee who was raised by Caucasian parents in a multi-racial family, and she longed to discover her history.
After messaging back and forth with Bryan on Facebook, I became interested in spreading the news about his Kickstarter campaign to support the film. A lot has happened since then. Closure, a 77-minute film that was released in 2013, has become a critical success. The film has been screened across the country, and it is an important addition to the national discussion of adoptee rights. The film won a Staff Award for Best Film at the 2013 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival.
Cloud’s Story – Transitioning from Foster Care to College with the Camellia Network
Cloud entered foster care for the first time when he was just 6 years old. This is also when Cloud was separated from his younger brother, something that is unfortunately a common situation for youth entering foster care. Siblings can be separated for a variety of reasons including a difference in the needs of each sibling, the age gap between siblings, or even siblings entering care at different times. Cloud would spend the next 12 years bouncing between two different foster homes, briefly leaving care to return to his family, until he turned 16 and was placed in a residential Independent Living Program until he graduated from high school at age 18. While many of the 400,000 children in foster care each year will be reunited with their families or adopted into a new forever family, nearly 24,000 youth still age out of the system every year.
Cloud describes feeling extremely grateful for the support he received, but he found more benefit in Camellia Network than just having a fulfilled registry. Cloud is currently attending a 4-year university where he is studying to become a cyber-crimes investigator. He is also in extended foster care thanks to California’s AB12 Fostering Connections to Success Act that allows youth to stay in foster care up to age 21 and receive additional support in their young adulthood. You can connect with Cloud on his Camellia Network profile here. Help us share this story using #CloudsStory and see his full interview below.
Human Trafficking: What Child Welfare Workers Should Know
Child welfare professionals are often among the first to learn about child trafficking, which involves minors. By knowing how to identify and respond to victims, social workers can help bring safety and healing to children traumatized by human trafficking.
NACAC – Adoption Fact Sheets
North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) produced the following adoption fact sheets for the State Policy Advocacy and Reform Center (SPARC) to help inform adoption community members and adoption advocates. The fact sheets, derived mostly from 2012 AFCARS data, have information about the number of waiting children, the length of time children spend in care, the race of waiting and adopted children, types of exits from foster care, Title IV-E payments, and more.