Permanency Tip of the Week: Facing a Crisis in the Search for Permanency
In our efforts to secure Permanency for our Youth in Foster Care, sometimes we are faced with a crisis that catches all of us off guard. While we mobilize into action to solve the crisis, we must be certain that we also focus on the impact that the crisis will have on the Youth we serve. Our email in-box, voicemail and calendar maybe overwhelmed with additional tasks / demands; let us always remember that it is the Youth that bears the greatest and longest lasting impact of the crisis. Let us do everything we can to soften the impact, ensure open and honest communication with the Youth and the important people in their life as well as quickly return to our efforts to secure Permanency for all our Youth.
Permanency Story of the Week: Treehouse Communities
Judy Cockerton, founder of Treehouse Communities, shares her vision of changing the world for children in care.
Current Permanency related articles:
Children in foster care need this one thing to succeed
When life in the family of birth isn’t working out, foster care can provide safety and more. But it often doesn’t provide everything a child needs. That’s where community comes in. “In the U.S. 397,122 children are living without permanent families in the foster care system. 101,666 of these children are eligible for adoption, but nearly 32 percent of these children will wait over three years in foster care before being adopted,” according to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Some of the kids will be adopted, some will return home and about 25,000 a year “age out” of the foster care system when they turn 18. Writes Rebecca Adams of the Huffington Post, “Kids who age out of foster care are usually left without a college education, a job or a place to live.” But you don’t have to be in a position to provide a permanent home for a foster child in order to make a difference, she notes. Mentors can have tremendous impact.
From foster care child to pre-med student, CASA helps neglected kids succeed
CASA in Louisiana is a state organization that helps abused or neglected children in foster care. These court appointed special advocates volunteer – helping these kids get their lives on track. 18-year-old Kayana Bradley worked with CASA and is now a freshman at the University of New Orleans, studying pre-med. She grew up in the Third Ward in the Calliope Projects. When she was 14 years old, her mother became seriously ill and was moved into a nursing home. Kayana and her sisters had to go in to foster care. Kayana says she remembers being scared – but then she met CASA Volunteer Caitlin Waugh. They quickly became friends. “The bond that grew between me and Caitlin, not so many words in the world can explain the relationship that I have with Caitlin,” said Bradley. Caitlin Waugh and the other volunteers at CASA, fight for the rights of neglected children in foster care.
Psychiatry Must Stop Ignoring Trauma, with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
Acclaimed psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk explores his field’s long, complex, and stubborn history with traumatic experiences. Dr. van der Kolk explains how, for the better part of a century, psychiatry avoided progress by relying on outdated misdiagnoses. The results of trauma were deemed “hysteria” or, in the case of shell-shocked soldiers, “malingering.” The experiences of abused women and children were more or less ignored, and they’re still being ignored in the way diagnoses are given today. Psychiatry is still not cognizant enough of the traumatic experiences that lead to diagnoses. In a way, we’re simply treating the symptoms, not the problem. Van der Kolk’s latest book is titled “The Body Keeps the Score.”
I’ve known Rachael for almost seven years. For the first part of those years I had no idea that she was part of the foster care or adoption community. When I found out she had first-hand knowledge of what a child goes through when placed in foster care I found refuge in having someone with real childhood experiences help me in my journey as a foster mom. How I react, the things I say or don’t say all have dramatic impacts on my children’s lives. I have asked for her advice before, for things such as “what do you wish your (adoptive) parents would have done or said differently?” “What were the best things they did to help you bond?” Each time taking mental note of the things I could do similarly or differently for my children.
This is the first time I asked her to share her story. I’ll admit I had no idea how much her story would affect me. I have a few hopes I bestow upon the readers of this post. The first one is for foster parents: I hope her story helps you take a deeper look into the lives of your children. I hope her ability to express herself now as an adult is not lost on what your children cannot, or does not yet want to verbalize. They have the same hopes, loves, fears, and many have similar experiences. Use her words to transform your care. My second is for others who have experienced foster care as a child, or for those currently in the foster care system: know you are not alone. There is power in knowing your thoughts and feelings are shared with others. Your voice is important. Let it be heard.
The Top 15 Family Films About Adoption
With adoption having such a big year at the box office, we’ve come together as specialists in these fields to identify the Top 15 family films about adoption. To qualify, the adoption storyline must be relatable, positive and accurate; the film has to be entertaining to parents and kids (sorry Martian Child), and it needs to be reasonably easy for families to locate for rent, purchase or download.
New Effort Underway to Promote and Support Guardianship and Adoption
The Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG), funded by the Children’s Bureau, is a five-year national project designed to promote permanency when reunification is no longer a goal, and improve adoption and guardianship preservation and support. QIC-AG is built on the premise that child welfare agencies need to provide a continuum of services to increase permanency stability, beginning when children first enter the child welfare system and continuing after adoption or guardianship has been finalized.
The Potential Trauma of Family Tree Projects
Many adopted persons particularly in closed adoptions, cringe at the thought of creating a family tree that most students will have assigned to them in high school or college. The fear and discomfort from adoptees creating a family tree stems from not having access to their original birth certificate and not knowing their biological family history. Feelings of grief, abandonment, and loss are a few emotions that an adoptee can experience while trying to complete a family tree project.