Permanency Tip of the Week: New Year = Ready for New Possibilities or the Same Routine?
As we begin a new year, let us consider if we are truly ready for something different for our Youth who remain in out of home care and are lacking in Permanency. It is important to remember that if we do not get ourselves ready for true change, that these Youth, it is a continuation of a lifestyle that no individual should ever experience. Sometimes for both us and our Youth maintain the status quo, even if it is uncomfortable / unwanted, could be easier to tolerate because at least we all know what it is like. A great deal of time, effort and support is needed to help guide our Youth to begin to trust us that this New Year will be different for them and that they finally will experience Permanency.
Permanency Success Story of the Week: Foster Mom Gets Her Thanksgiving Wish to Adopt for the 1st Time
Days before Thanksgiving, one South Carolina woman got her holiday wish to adopt the little girl she fostered and fell in love with. Melissa Birchmore of West Columbia officially became “mom” to 5-year-old Jeneva on Nov. 21 at Sumter County Family Court. “It felt like the world was lifted off my shoulders,” Birchmore, 52, told ABC News. “It was a feeling that you can’t describe. [Jeneva] is pretty excited. She understands she is what she calls [herself], ‘my forever girl.’ She came in and she meshed and fit and it’s never been her plan to leave.” Jeneva was a victim of neglect and often “bounced around” under the care of various relatives for years before Birchmore became her foster mother, Birchmore said. “From the beginning, I loved her and didn’t want her to go anywhere,” she added. At family court on Monday, Birchmore signed the adoption papers in front of a judge and her loved ones. The family is hosting Thanksgiving dinner Thursday and Jeneva is excited to celebrate with her new cousins and “cook with mommy,” Birchmore said.
Permanency Related Articles:
Changes in Adoption Over the Decades
WHYY Public Media – The process and field of adoption has changed dramatically over the decades. We’ll be joined by Pam Hasegawa, who supports the law and is the spokesperson for the New Jersey Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education. And we’ll talk about how adoptions have changed over the decades, with Peter Conn, author of the book, “Adoption: A Brief Social and Cultural History,” and Meredith Rose, the Director of the Philadelphia-based Open Arms Adoption Network. Additional information available through the Information Gateway resource: History of Adoption Practices in the United States.
Simone Biles Opens Up About Her Time in Foster Care – and How She’s Helping Kids in Need Now
People Magazine – “I came from a foster home and went on to achieve everything I’ve achieved,” she says. “I’m just hoping it can inspire other foster kids to never give up and to always pursue your dreams. And to play sports and get good sleep!”
Talking with Older Youth About Adoption
Child Welfare Information Gateway – Exploring permanency options for older youth in foster care requires a focus on two key components: (1) recruiting and preparing adoptive families who can meet the needs of older youth and (2) engaging and supporting older youth in conversations about their future and their openness to adoption. This tip sheet provides child welfare professionals with a framework for how to talk with older youth about permanency and offers tangible tips and suggestions on ways to make these conversations more effective and meaningful.
Child Welfare Response to Child and Youth Sex Trafficking
The Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for States offers an online training titled Child Welfare Response to Child and Youth Sex Trafficking. The two-part course is intended for local-level, State, territory, and Tribal child welfare professionals to integrate the course curriculum in their training programs on child and youth sex-trafficking victims. Part one includes four training modules tailored to each of the following professionals: caseworkers, supervisors, administrators and managers, and caregivers. Each module includes a trainer’s guide, a video series, PowerPoint presentation, and digital stories from the perspectives of survivors and professionals. Part two includes three modules that focus on intake/investigation workers, ongoing workers, and caregivers. Each module features skill-building activities and accompanying videos.
Leading Adaptively In Child Welfare
National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement – As child welfare agencies reform systems to improve outcomes, the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) highlights three categories of “drivers” necessary for effective implementation—leadership, competency and organization. While much attention has been focused on competency and organization, fewer resources have been available in the area of leadership. This issue focuses on our recent efforts, in conjunction with the consulting firm Cambridge Leadership Associates (CLA), to address this by integrating the concepts and tools of adaptive leadership into our training and technical assistance (TTA) work… Adaptive Leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to recognize and intervene in challenges that are hard to define and for which existing knowledge, structures or processes are not sufficient to bring about the desired change.
Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare
National Child Welfare Workforce Institute – This handout presents an overview of the literature on Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) in the child welfare workforce, identifying common sources and symptoms of STS and suggestions for workers and agencies to help prevent and address it…Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) occurs when an employee works directly with traumatized children and families and experiences indirect exposure to the trauma. STS (also referred to as “compassion fatigue,” “vicarious trauma,” or “indirect trauma”) can result from one case involving trauma, or from the cumulative effect of many traumatic cases over time. Those who work with children’s trauma cases are most at risk for developing STS. Workers may also experience traumatic events firsthand, including verbal or physical assault, violent family members, accidents, or community violence.
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- Take care and keep up the Permanency work – Our children, youth, young adults, families and communities are depending on it!