Permanency Tip of the Week: Role of Psychological Safety for Everyone
When we are addressing the Permanency needs of our Youth in foster care, we must first ensure that the Youth feels psychologically safe as nothing else matters until the individual feels safe. This feeling of safety is not directly correlated with the individual being physically safe. We must simultaneously ensure that we, along with all the other members of the system, feel psychologically safe. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) provides a wealth of information on psychological safety. When an individual feels psychologically unsafe, they often will display serious impairments in social, emotional and behavioral functioning. Once an individual starts to feel psychologically safe, especially when this happens as early in the process as possible, they are more likely to be ready to partner with us in seeking Permanency.
Permanency Story of the Week: When I first met my child (Spanish)
This is a powerful story of a child finding Permanency through Adoption. “The first time I saw the kids was incredible for me because they were so little. I just kept looking at their faces and I couldn’t believe those kids were going to be mine. We met our sons six years ago.” Even if you do not speak Spanish, the power of the non-verbal communication is incredible!
Current Permanency related articles:
More Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Equals Shorter Life
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human Services, has developed a neat infographic to summarize the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on long term health and well-being. The information it condenses is based on one of the largest investigations ever conducted on the effects of ACES on health and well-being that collects data from 17,000 participants between 1995 and 1997.
It also shows dramatic linkages between ACEs and risky behaviors, mental illness and medical illness through an interactive map. The striking correlation between ACEs and life expectancy is demonstrated in the infographic as well with a visual that shows the reduction of life expectancy by 20 years for people with six or more ACEs.
In addition to presenting the startling, hard facts, the tool also presents a series of mechanisms that can help reduce ACEs in our communities. It presents an organized set of resources for categories that range from eliminating intimate partner violence to preschool enrichment to home visiting programs for pregnant women and so much more.
3 Black Adoptees Speak Out About Life with White Parents
The Root talked to three transracial adoptees, all adopted by white families in the 1970s, about their experiences and views on transracial adoption, as well as Kevin Costner’s new film (Black or White) . While all three appreciated the love and foundation their families provided, a common theme evolved: In a racially polarized society, children of color cannot be raised devoid of their history and culture.
Youth Training Project – Foster Youth Museum
Foster Youth Museum presents a groundbreaking exhibit about youth experiences in foster care. With compelling photos, donated objects, videos, foster youth art, and text, Lost Childhoods tells the story of loss and powerlessness – and the human capacity for resilience and connection.
Bringing Ohio Foster Kids to Table to Build Lifelong Connections Public News Service
Child-welfare agencies in Ohio are using new strategies that engage foster youth in the process of building lifelong connections, finding permanent homes and overall in the planning of their future. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption – Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Program uses a child-centered approach that engages foster youth in the process of finding a permanent home.
Former Foster Youth Makes Her Voice Count
While in foster placement as a teen, Chaney Stokes encountered many obstacles as she struggled to come into her own – and she didn’t mince words when it came to expressing her frustrations to the people around her. “I wanted to feel like I had control over my own life,” Stokes recalled. These days, Stokes facilitates NCTSN’s Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (also known as the Resource Parent Curriculum) and conducts outreach at the Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH) in Durham, NC. Last year she became the Family-Partner Coordinator at the center, after having worked there as a part-time co-facilitator since 2011. Now 27 years old, and a wife and mother, Stokes credits her personal growth and self-discovery to a combination of her faith, support from key adult mentors, and involvement with a nonprofit foster youth advocacy organization
Foster Care: Loving a Child That Might Leave
I’ll never forget the day it all changed for me. My greatest fear, like so many others who are considering venturing down the beautiful yet tumultuous path of foster care, was not whether or not I could love a child that was not my own but whether or not I could handle letting a child go that I have grown to love as my own.
I couldn’t get beyond this concern, and couldn’t move forward because of it. I shared my fear with a friend who was a foster dad at the time, and his response both challenged and settled me. It revealed to me that my concerns were backwards, centered on me and how I might feel rather than on the child and how they do feel.
He said that for him and his wife, they were committed to experiencing the pain of loving a child they might lose if it meant a child who has lost so much could experience the gain of their love. A profound statement for me at the time, but one filled with a purity and simplicity that respostured my concern – away from what I stand to lose and towards what a child might stand to gain. In the simplest of terms I realized, it’s not about me, it’s about these kids.