Permanency Tip of the Week: Pushing the Pause vs Eject Button
In the course of our Permanency efforts, we sometimes run head-on into a serious roadblock or barrier (ex. painful comment, new allegation, arrest, etc.). It is at these points in time, where the best button to push on our remote is the “Pause” button instead of the “Eject” button. The Pause button allows us to ask good questions and seek out meaningful answers instead of pushing the Eject button which often leads us to be reactive based on a limited amount of information. When facing a roadblock or a barrier let’s try to push the Pause button before we make final / potentially life changing decisions.
Permanency Story of the Week: Please don’t tell me I was lucky to be adopted
I’ve never been good at embracing my story, but lately I’ve found help in the most unlikely of places: my 7-year-old daughter, Ara… In my almost 40 years, I’ve only recently been able to talk about adoption honestly and openly. And it is incredibly difficult. For me, being an adoptee is like getting into a horrible car accident and surviving with devastating injuries. But instead of anybody acknowledging the trauma of the accident, they tell you that you should feel lucky. Even if the injuries never stop hurting, never quite heal. Even if the injuries make it impossible to feel comfortable in everyday life…I hope my daughter always feels confident in her beauty and strength. And I hope she’s always willing to tell me her truth. And even more so, I hope I’m always willing to hear her. Especially if she stops being confident, as I did. And especially if she stops talking, as I did. As she says herself, she already feels like an adoptee. And being an adoptee, sometimes, is too much to bear.
Current Permanency related articles:
Lutheran Services in America (LSA) announced it has been invited by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to participate in the Provider Exchange®, a network of child welfare providers that commit their work to improve the lives of children and families. The LSA cohort of providers will create evidence-based practices and outcomes-guided programs to improve the well-being and lives of at-risk youth and families across the United States.
Foster Care Youth: We Are Everyone & No One’s Responsibility
In “Know How,” a new documentary by Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza, viewers follow the experiences of foster youth in NYC — those young people who are forced to fight for themselves, or like a white dwarf star, succumb to the prevailing reality of the foster care life… Imagine being young, alone, and having literally no one advocate for you. Imagine it. With overcrowded school systems, lack of resources in low-income neighborhoods and, ultimately, few people who understand the condition of the orphan, the foster care spiral becomes a black hole.
May is Foster Care Awareness Month, so it seems a fitting time to admit that I, too, am a foster youth survivor. I entered into the system in my early teens and aged out, and I say ‘survivor’ because it feels like a war.
If You Move, You Lose: The Interstate Medicaid Obligation to Special Needs Adopted Children
This Article presents the history of the adoption assistance programs of the United States and analyzes state Medicaid practice related to the federal statutory provisions that established the benefit and the Constitutional guarantees of the freedom of travel. It argues that the state practice of denying Medicaid to a child based on the state from which the child is adopted clashes with the Supreme Court’s decision in Saenz v. Roe which held that the Equal Protection Clause “does not tolerate a hierarchy of 45 sub-classes of similarly situated citizens based on the location of their prior residence.” This Article posits that children adopted with special needs who have been found to be Medicaid eligible remain Medicaid eligible regardless of the state from which they were adopted and the state in which they presently reside.
What is your favorite thing about being a social worker?
When I was a kid growing up, having to deal with the system and all that it entails, I didn’t necessarily appreciate my social workers as much as I should have. But if I think about all of my social workers, with the exception of one man, there is something they did that genuinely made a huge difference to me – to the point that I can remember it 10 years later…When I was younger, when things didn’t happen I put it down to my social workers. Now I realize that social workers are more than worth their weight in gold, they’re all extremely good people. Even bad social workers – in my opinion – are people who have been beaten by the system and accepted it. Social workers get into social work because they genuinely care and want to help people.
Factsheet for Caregivers on Complex Trauma
Complex trauma occurs when a child is exposed to and impacted by one or multiple traumatic events. Caregivers of children who have experienced complex trauma may struggle to facilitate the healing process. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network published a factsheet for parents and caregivers that defines complex trauma and its signs and symptoms, explains its effects, and provides recommendations for how parents can help their children build resilience and recover.
The factsheet offers information about traumatic reminders—everyday incidents (sounds, smells, feelings) that cause a child to relive a traumatic event from his or her past. These triggers can cause over reactive behavior, intense anxiety, distraction and lack of focus, and other negative outcomes. Complex trauma can create irrational thinking and inaccurate perceptions related to the child’s relationship with a caregiver. Because caregivers can also experience feelings of frustration and helplessness, the factsheet outlines coping strategies and provides information on self-care.
Complex Trauma: Facts for Caregivers
Youth Permanence Curricula
The March 2014 issue of Children’s Bureau Express (CBX) spotlighted permanence for youth. A new curricula developed by the National Center for Child Welfare Excellence (NCCWE) is centered on improving outcomes for older youth in out-of-home care. The curricula focuses on the belief that all children, regardless of age, deserve and can achieve permanence. The 1-day course includes six modules that outline legislation pertaining to permanence; define youth permanency and help professionals understand the importance of lifelong, permanent connections for youth in care; and highlight four permanency pathways. More information on Making It Possible: Permanency Pathways for Older Youth in Care, in addition to links to the facilitator’s guide and participation handouts.