Permanency Tip of the Week: Preparing for Permanency after a Loss
After suffering a loss, most of us turn to our sources of Permanency to help us cope. What if your history of loss has resulted in the simultaneous loss of all your sources of Permanency? This is the unfortunate reality for many of our Youth in Foster Care. When they experience a subsequent loss of any sort (friendship, housing, school, work, roommate, etc.) while going through the Family Finding process, we need to be extra sensitive to the potentially powerful impact of this loss. It might result in us needing to adjust the speed of our Permanency efforts in order to allow the Youth to grieve their most recent loss.
Permanency Story of the Week: Ohio Woman Found Her Birth Mother in an Unlikely Location: Her Office
For years, La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark has had a burning question about her identity. “Ever since I found out that I was adopted, I wanted to know who my biological mother was,” Mitchell-Clark, of Youngstown, Ohio. When the Ohio Department of Health released birth records last month for those born between Jan. 1, 1964, and Sept. 18, 1996, the 38-year-old thought she might have a shot of answering that question once and for all.
Mitchell-Clark’s birth records were no different. When they arrived in the mail, they included her mother’s name: Francine Simmons. “There’s a Francine that works at my job,” Mitchell-Clark told WYTV, recalling her train of thought as she researched the woman on Facebook. A phone call between the two followed, and Mitchell-Clark got right to the point, according to WYTV. “She called me and I said, ‘Is this Ms. Francine?’ She said, yes. I said, ‘I think I’m your daughter’,” Mitchell-Clark said. “Now, we’ve got a bigger extended family where we can just be together,” Simmons added.
Current Permanency related articles:
New Resource for Kinship Caregivers
Over 7.1 million grandchildren live with their grandparents and 4.7 million children live with “other relatives” with little to no support. The Kinship Parenting Toolbox offers kinship parents a useful tool and guide in their journey parenting the second time around. Containing articles from more than 70 contributors touched in a variety of ways by kinship care, including grandparents raising grandchildren, children raised by other relatives or family friends, social workers, therapists, kinship support organizations and others, The Kinship Parenting Toolbox provides a wide range of viewpoints on various topics.
US Department of HHS – Website to Get Ready for Foster Care Month in May
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a website to provide ideas for youth, foster parents, child welfare professionals and tribes to celebrate National Foster Care Month in May 2015. The website includes a range of materials to build awareness about the month. These include a series of written vignettes and powerful videos and that profile the experiences of children and youth in foster care and their ability to overcome tremendous challenges. It also includes a compilation of the latest research and resources.
USC Child Welfare Solutions Symposium – April 30, 2014
One year after the release of the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection, the county has pursued a massive reform to its child protection system, but challenges remain. Join students from the Media for Policy Change graduate course offered at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy for a look at Los Angeles County’s child welfare reform efforts, and find out what solutions their reporting has yielded.
For more information, please contact Christie at: (213) 507-0853 – Thursday, April 30, 2015; 5:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m; USC Main Campus, Ralph and Goldy Lewis (RGL) Hall, Room 101. Click for MAP
A growing body of research has shown that significant neglect can be profoundly harmful to a young child’s development. Indeed, as we have learned through our work in Bucharest, the results of neglect can be striking, including significant cognitive delays, increased risk for psychological disorders, and stunted physical growth. With approximately 8 million children growing up in institutions around the world and 75% of child abuse cases in the United States classified as neglect, it is an issue that demands our attention and concern. Two recent reports highlight both the science behind these issues and the potential policy implications.
Upcoming Event: California Youth Connection LA Youth Summit
California Youth Connection and Los Angeles City College’s Guardian Scholars Program are hosting a leadership development training day for youth from foster care. The Southern California Foster Youth Summit is FREE and is open to youth from foster care ages 14-24 in the Southern California area.
Youth will learn a variety of important skills including effective leadership, professional development and self-care. The event will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2015 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Los Angeles City College in Hollywood. Youth wishing to attend should complete a registration form.
Study shows early environment has a lasting impact on stress response systems
New University of Washington research, as part of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) finds that children’s early environments have a lasting impact on their responses to stress later in life, and that the negative effects of deprived early environments can be mitigated—but only if that happens before age 2. Published April 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research is believed to be the first to identify a sensitive period during early life when children’s stress response systems are particularly likely to be influenced by their care-giving environments.