Permanency Tip of the Week: The Role of the Child in Emotional Safety
Emotional safety is achieved in part by what he say and do; however, the most important part of this is how the child experiences what we say and do. Sometime our best intentions may be off-target because we assume that since they make us feel safe, it must make our Youth feel safe. Regular check-ins with our Youth, regarding their level of emotional safety are critical. The second part of this process is helping our Youth to say and do things that help to increase their own level of emotional safety. Combining these two efforts can help establish the foundation for healing through Permanency.
Permanency Story of the Week: The Healing Power of Family
Ezra had been in care one year when he was referred to his Wendy’s Wonderful Kids caseworker. He was born prematurely at 33 weeks and was medically fragile. He was diagnosed with macrocephaly and subdural hematomas. He also had speech, large and small motor delays.
When the recruiter read Ezra’s file, things sounded grim. It seemed like he could do little more than sit up and hold a bottle…Knowing that early intervention is vital when working with children with special needs, the recruiter began to advocate that he be evaluated for special services. She also contacted agencies that she thought might have families who could meet his needs and help him reach his true potential. Within weeks of moving in with his new family, there was an enormous improvement.
Today, Ezra is a happy, healthy little boy with very few delays. This case really shows the importance of having a program like WWK and the impact of child-focused recruitment. He could have spent years in the system because his situation was being misrepresented. Without early intervention practices, the minor delays he did have could have become worse. Without a family to work one-on-one with him and advocate for his medical needs, his medical condition may not have improved.
As his Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter says, “This story is a true testament to the healing power of family.”
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Foster Care Q&A with Dave Thomas Foundation CEO
Adoption.Net – The Dave Thomas Foundation was started in 1992 when George W. Bush asked Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas to become the spokesperson for a national adoption awareness campaign. Since then, the foundation has made visible progress in their goal to revolutionize foster care adoption in the United States. Their efforts are comprehensive and include everything from conducting important surveys and releasing research that give us insight into our current perceptions of adoption, to launching hands-on campaigns like Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a program that funds, trains, and embeds expert adoption professionals into the foster care system.
Today, the Dave Thomas Foundation is led by CEO, Rita Soronen, an outspoken advocate for her company and a force for good in the industry. Soronen shared some of her thoughts with us about the future of adoption in our society.
Support for Foster Parents Means Better Lives for Foster Youth
Child Trends – Thankfully, an important shift is occurring! Child welfare agencies are going beyond recruitment to focus on recruitment and retention efforts. An important component of retention is providing support to foster families: learning what they need, providing information and encouragement, and connecting them with trainings that build parenting skills and confidence.
Faithful Ambition: National Networks Tap Congregations for Child Welfare Permanency, Preservation
Chronicle of Social Change – Christian-affiliated nonprofits, such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities, have long had an outward role in the provision of child welfare services. Since the 1950s, those organizations have contracted with federal, state and local governments to carry out foster care, residential programs, home studies and myriad other services for children and families.
During National Foster Care Month, a bipartisan group of Senators calls on HHS and ED to assist states, school districts, and child welfare agencies to implement reforms to support children in foster care through educational stability.
Capitol Hill Child Welfare Briefings Cover Faith, Kinship and Opioid Addiction
Kinship caregivers and the church community can play a bigger role in supplying homes for youth who have to leave abusive and neglectful homes, and better substance abuse treatment efforts can prevent some kids from needing to leave at all. This was the message imparted over the course of two consecutive days in briefings on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress and staffers heard from families, faith-based advocates and one of the most famous people on daytime TV, Dr. Phil McGraw.
Teen Birth Rate Drops Dramatically, Still Huge Issue for Foster Kids
Teens who have been foster kids become pregnant at a far higher rate than teens not in the child welfare system, said Kim Nolte, president and CEO of GCAPP, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential. GCAPP is a Georgia nonprofit that has worked in the area of pregnancy prevention for 18 years. The most recent estimates of pregnancy among foster teens come from the continuing California Youth Transitions to Adulthood study, in which more than 700 youth were surveyed. A just-released follow-up of the study showed that by age 19, nearly half of the young women in foster care had become pregnant and one-fourth had given birth.