Permanency Tip of the Week: Creating Attachment Friendly Opportunities
Our plan for engaging with the child to begin the journey towards Permanency needs to have Attachment Friendly Interactions (AFI) at the heart of everything that is done. When we can form a healthy attachment with the child, this can provide safety and security for the child to help them join us on this amazing, powerful and challenging journey. Whenever we meet with the child, let’s ask questions like: 1) How can I help create a good first impression with the child? 2) What sort of opportunities can I help create for the child to make the best first impression with people? 3) How can I create good rapport and partnership with their current caregivers and service providers so that they will support our Permanency work with the child?
Permanency Story of the Week: Single Foster Mom Opens Heart to 6 Sisters
Five years ago, Lacey Dunkin was single, in her mid-20s, and far from having children of her own. But now family is the only thing on her mind. “You don’t set out to have six little girls,” Dunkin said. “I’m glad that it happened, I’m so blessed.” … But Lacey says they give much more than she thought she could receive. “You’re able to love them because they love you,” she said. “And your heart just grows more and more.”
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Preventing Child Abuse Before it Occurs
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, an important time when concerned citizens and organizations host public awareness events and educational activities focused on drawing attention to the urgent need to stop child abuse before it starts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, very few cases of abuse or neglect are reported in the news, and many are not even reported to police or social services. According to 2012 data, 1,640 children died in the U.S. from abuse and neglect, and 686,000 children were found to be victims of maltreatment by child protective services.
Why The Jungle Book Is A Must-See Movie For Adoptive Families
Portrait of An Adoption – Carrie Goldman – On opening night, our family went to see The Jungle Book. The excitement among the kids was palpable. I sat between my oldest and youngest daughters, one my beloved through adoption, another my beloved through the biology of my body… I highly recommend that adoptive and foster families go see The Jungle Book and use it as a springboard for empathetic discussions and personal growth.
Fresh Approach to Childhood Trauma Means Different Treatment, New Hope
For children, the wounds of a traumatic experience can run deep, and the scars can linger for years. This has long been intuitive to people who work with traumatized kids. Now there’s a growing body of research that shows how these experiences can derail a child’s normal brain development, increasing the chance of mental health problems like depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance abuse. There’s even a study that suggests a link between childhood trauma and adult health and behavioral problems like cancer, emphysema, addiction and attempted suicide.
Treehouse Foundation – A Vibrant Multi-Generational Community Supports Foster Parents and Kids
Treehouse Foundation – This Massachusetts Community Is Working Together to Support a Village of Foster Kids. In an activity center at the heart of an Easthampton, MA, community known as Treehouse, 83-year-old Lynne Knudsen teaches piano to Stephanie Wright, 21, an adopted foster child with Down syndrome. Nearby, a group of teenage girls who have grown up at Treehouse giggle and share secrets. A 4-year-old foster child plays in the lap of Mary Steele, 82, whom he calls “my best friend, my grandma.” At one of the many tables, each adorned with a bouquet of pretty leaves, a small gathering of seniors plays cards…Lynne and Stephanie exemplify the idea behind Treehouse, an intergenerational community built in 2006. The primary focus is to help move children out of foster care and into permanent homes, plus provide them with a sense of belonging and stability they would likely never experience otherwise.
The Illusion of Privilege in Foster Care
Sade Daniels – Chronicle of Social Change – A few days ago, a classmate, who’d recently read articles I’ve been featured in or authored, asked me if I was ever in foster care. Immediately, I contemplated lying, as I rarely ever disclose that information to people I don’t know or in situations that would warrant negative perceptions. But I decided against it, since he obviously knew the answer before asking. Then he proceeded to ask me if I’d received special treatment from my professors at the University of California, Berkeley, because I’m a former ward of the court. His question threw me off for many reasons. For starters, we’re barely acquaintances, and it made me incredibly uncomfortable. But what bothers me most is this continued belief that there are immense privileges to being a part of the foster care system…
Unfortunately for me, the illusion of foster care privilege is following me even to graduate school in spite of the fact that I’ve worked my tail off to get into this prestigious program and have over 10 years of experience in child welfare reform via direct services, policy work and training. In the eyes of my aforementioned classmate, my work ethic holds very little merit to this invalid idea of my “privileged” upbringing in the system. Apparently, I’m cursed by my “Orph-irmative Action.”
My mother would be so proud. Oh wait…
When she was young, Keariene Muizz and her family were constantly on the move — she attended 12 schools before leaving her teens. Role models were few and far between, and at one point she ended up in foster care. But years later, despite her rocky start, Muizz found herself studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris.
“Looking at me in that situation, no one would ever believe that I hadn’t grown up in the most stable of backgrounds,” she says. The experience made Muizz think about “second and third chances, and the importance of being resilient.” She began drafting an idea for what would become known as Positive Resistance, a nonprofit with the motto, “A Broken Home Does Not Mean a Broken Life.”