Permanency Tip of the Week: Unconditional Needs to be Unconditional for Permanency to Occur
The experience of Permanency is incredibly powerful and can at times be experienced as overwhelming for our Youth. This can sometimes lead to the display of patterns of highly challenging and disruptive behaviors which can challenge even the most secure and committed of relationships. It is often at these points in time when the true level of unconditional care and acceptance can be found. Permanency cannot be conditional, otherwise the relationship is even more likely to fail when a challenging situation arises. Any conditional aspects of the relationship, have to be addressed in a supportive context if the relationship can ultimately provide true Permanency for the Youth.
Permanency Story of the Week: Finding the Missing Puzzle Piece
Adoption was never in the plan for Sandra Santiago-Conyers. Until she became a translator for a teenage girl in foster care. Sandra was working for the Florida Adoption Information Center when she met 16-year-old Sunny. Originally from Honduras, Sunny spoke no English and had only a third-grade education…For almost two years, Sandra worked with Sunny, helping her to learn English, advance her education, and develop a plan for the day that she would turn 18 and age out of the foster care system. As that day was fast approaching, Sunny asked Sandra a surprising question: “Would you consider adopting me?” “I was not expecting it, but I immediately said ‘yes’!” Sandra said. “Today we often joke that I did not adopt Sunny, but she adopted me.”
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Emotional Abuse Might Hurt Just As Much As Neglect
New findings published in JAMA Psychiatry examine how different types or patterns of abuse relating to emotional and physical pain actually activate similar parts of the brain. Though many assume that physical abuse would be more harmful than other types of abuse, researchers found that they were both associated with similar consequences. Information Gateway Resource: Identification of Emotional Abuse
2015 – CCAI’s Angels in Adoption
CCAI’s Angels in Adoption Program consists of three days of events in Washington, D.C. where those who have made an extraordinary contribution in the lives of children through adoption or foster care are celebrated by Members of Congress.
Policy Briefing to Explore Placements for High-Need Older Youth in Foster Care
Three years into the implementation of extended foster care, THP-Plus Foster Care (THP+FC) has the emerged as a prevalent placement option for high-need youth, such as those who have a history of commercial sexual exploitation or serious mental illness. But was THP+FC designed to serve these youth? Does it have the resources to keep youth with special needs safe? How can the program be adapted to ensure the most vulnerable are successful in THP+FC?
This information packet developed by the National Center for Diligent Recruitment (NRCDR) is a resource to support your agency as you seek to recruit adoptive parents for older youth in foster care. The publication provides strategies you can use to increase your likelihood of achieving permanency by building your agency’s capacity to prepare these youth for adoption and to respond to, retain, and prepare prospective adoptive parents as they consider adopting older youth.
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2014
This report provides preliminary estimates of Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2014. As states are permitted to resubmit AFCARS data, the estimates may change over time. This report reflects all AFCARS data received as of July 9, 2015 related to AFCARS reporting periods through September 30, 2014.
Legal and Relational Permanence in Older Foster Care Youths
Permanency may be conceptualized as two separate but related dimensions. It is ideal, but not always possible, for youths to attain both. Each year, roughly 25,000 young people age out of foster care in the United States without a legally binding, permanent relationship with a family. From 2000 to 2009, the number of youths aging out of care increased by 46%, and though the number has finally begun to decrease over the past five years, youth emancipation continues to represent one in 10 exits from foster care (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). Systems would do well to partner with youth-led organizations such as FosterClub in order to adapt their policies and practices to support the achievement of relational and legal permanency for older youths aging out of care.