Permanency Tip of the Week: Finding Successes and Strengths in our Youth
When we start working with a Youth, no matter what our role, it can be easy to become overwhelmed with all the negative information contained in their files. Here are some opportunities to find some of the successes and strengths for our youth: 1) Who have they stayed connected (i.e., attached) to from their past? 2) When were they successful and stable in a home (Stayed longer in one home, former caregiver asked about them)? 3) How have they demonstrated resilience (Played a sport, earned a good grade in school, referred to having a friend)?
Permanency Story of the Week: Search, Call, Connect
Sometimes the long and challenging steps involved with Family Finding can actually be very simple and straightforward. Recently, a social worker asked for assistance with family finding on one of her cases. The supervisor contacted the Family Finding Liaison and they were able to find the sibling whom the youth had not seen since they were both infants. The liaison collaborated with the supervisor on how best to approach the sibling who lives out of state and the connection was established.
“It was pretty incredible to call the sibling and let him know his younger sibling was looking for him. This is the most meaningful experience I’ve had working here for 18 years. What’s crazy is how fairly straightforward it was: search, call, and connect.”
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Presidential Proclamation–National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2016
During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we recommit to giving every child a chance to succeed and to ensuring that every child grows up in a safe, stable, and nurturing environment that is free from abuse and neglect. Information Gateway resource: National Child Abuse Prevention Month 2016 Community Involvement Resource Guide.
Know Someone Who Grew up in Foster Care? Three Things They Need From Us
As National Social Work Month winds down, I’ve been thinking about what older foster youth and those aging out of state care need from their social worker, counselor or other supportive people in their lives. What do they want and need to help them make the leap from dependence on the system to successful independent adulthood? The best way, the only way, to find out what these young people need is to listen.
C.A.S.E. Webinar – Search and Reunion: Focus on Birthfathers
Ellen Singer (Center for Adoption Support and Education) Senior Therapist/Training Coordinator) moderates a panel of adopted adults and birthfathers. Panelists will share their experience of reunion and provide participants with tips for addressing challenges to help promote a positive reunion experience. Looking Ahead – Upcoming Webinars – May – Ready by 21: A Realistic Approach to Helping Foster Youth Transition to Adulthood; June – Adoptive Fathers: Empowering the Male Voice
Disparities in Access to Postadoption Services
Research has shown that in families that receive postadoption services, children who were adopted from foster care are more likely to thrive and adoption disruption or dissolution is less likely to occur. A recent article in theJournal of Family Strengths explores specific barriers experienced by families, referred to as underserved adoptive families, in accessing postadoption services. The article highlights the historical purpose of postadoption services and resources within each State. Implications for practice, specialized services needed, and barriers to access are also discussed. Child welfare agencies are encouraged to reevaluate their postadoption services and establish a proactive service delivery model.
Compendium of Instruments to Measure Child Welfare Outcomes
Children’s Bureau discretionary grantees have used numerous standardized instruments to assess child welfare outcomes and evaluate their projects. Under contract with the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, James Bell Associates developed a compendium of standardized instruments used by discretionary grantees in order to help future grantees or evaluators of other child welfare-related initiatives. It includes common instruments that measure outcomes at the child, caregiver, family, or organization levels.
House Passes Bill That Would Expedite Interstate Adoptions and Guardianships
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Modernizing the Interstate Placement of Children in Foster Care Act (H.R. 4472). The bill would provide funding for the development and implementation of the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE) to expedite the placement of children in foster care or guardianship or adoption across state lines. The bill would also continue the discretionary authorization for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program at current authorized levels ($200 million) through September 30, 2017, and reserves $5 million of this discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to aid states in developing NEICE.