Permanency Tip of the Week: Relevant History of the Permanent Connection
In order to maximize the potential for success in the permanency matching process, we need to take a close look at the matching history of the family. Here are some good questions to ask / issues to explore: 1) If they are new to Adoption, what are their expectations and how can you help shape them to first and foremost focus on meeting the needs of the child? 2) How are their past and present family experiences (especially loss / separation) similar or different to those of the Child? 3) Is the family looking to “replace” an un-grieved loss they have experienced by bringing this child into their family? 4) Does the family already have children in the home (biological / foster / adopted) with whom the child / sibling set will need to integrate? All of these issues can and should be addressed through both the home study process and family therapy.
Permanency Story of the Week: I Was Adopted – When I Was 41
Regina Louise – At thirteen, a neglectful foster system tore me from the only woman I ever wanted to call “Mom.” Decades later I tracked her down and finally got my happy ending.
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Youth Formerly in Foster Care Help Create Federal Foster Care Transition Toolkit
Being a youth in foster care can be difficult. Some youth in foster care often experience trauma before entering into the foster care system. Once youth enter foster care, there are often a lack sufficient role models and resources are either scarce or spread out. Gaining access to information about even the simplest things, like opening a bank account, can be a real hurdle. That’s why the recently released Foster Care Transition Toolkit is so important.
A National Report Card on Permanency
Chronicle of Social Change – The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was passed in 1999 to minimize foster care drift and shorten the stay in temporary care. Recognizing that one year is already a very long time in the life of a child, the intent was to set a limit. After 12 months (or 15 of the past 22 months) with no permanent resolution, the law required that a termination of parental rights be filed. Seventeen years and three presidencies have elapsed since ASFA’s passage. So how have we done at meeting the “child time” deadline? Following is a report card of sorts on the changes since ASFA passed.*
Summary: I would give us a grade of C-plus in our efforts to reunify or find adoptive homes within “child time.” We are moving in the right direction, but ever so slowly. While the child waits in temporary care, attachments are formed and broken. Experiences multiply. New brain synapses are formed that can be as lasting and shaping as genes. Every child has the right to a permanent home. Limbo is a dangerous place for a developing child.
Group Home Closure Eliminates Key Option for Most Challenging Foster Youth
Chronicle of Social Change – Maryville has been picking up an increasing share of the costs of residential care as DCFS has reduced its subsidy, and the agency has decided to eliminate these programs. The problem is that states all over the country, including Illinois, are reporting foster parent shortages. And, as I have written before, many existing foster families are not providing the love, nurturing and supervision that these youth need.
Trauma-Informed Parenting: What Adoptive & Foster Parents Can Help Teach, Part 1
People sometimes feel bad for adoptive parents. They think maybe our kids say, “You’re not my real parents” on a daily basis and that we go to bed crying each night because we can’t have kids of our “own.” Do they think we had to “settle” for adoption or fostering? Do they worry we feel less than as parents? We don’t. It’s true that some of us have fertility issues. And maybe have grief about that. It’s true that our children may love us and their birth parents, foster family members. It’s true we might share the title of Mom or Dad with one or more others. But we need no pity…
Trauma-Informed Parenting: What Adoptive & Foster Parents Can Help Teach, Part 2
There are many adults with low ACE scores who parent children with high ACE scores. They are some of the best parents I know. They are often feisty and fierce advocates who tirelessly seek out support, strategies and solutions to make the lives of their children easier and better. The ones I admire most have helped me be a better person, a better parent and expedited my personal recovery as well. Without calling it such, they provide a trauma-informed love. Here are 12 lessons I’ve learned…
Montclair (CA) Student Who Grew Up Homeless (and in Foster Care) Set to Graduate College with Honors
A Montclair student who grew up homeless overcame many challenges to graduate from college with honors. “Our expectations were go to school and make sure we eat. Our expectations weren’t go to school and make sure you’re passing your classes,” said Mich Hamlin. Such was the life for Hamlin, the Montclair student who grew up living on the streets…Then when his mom showed up drunk one day to pick the boys up from middle school, the county put them in foster care. Hamlin has come a long way. Statistics show that only 3 percent of foster kids graduate from college. “I had to put in the hard work to keep my grades up, and they have been,” he said. He plans to go for his doctorate at some point. For now, he just hopes to inspire other students who may be struggling themselves. “If you have a positive outlook and a positive outlet in life, then I don’t think there’s anything that can stop you,” he said.
Aging Out is Not Safe – You Gotta Believe
“Aging is not safe. Aging out leaves kids with sort of a lifetime of potential dire outcomes and loneliness,” says Susan Grundberg, executive director and CEO of You Gotta Believe (YGB), a New York City nonprofit organization that focuses on finding permanent families for young adults, teens and preteens in foster care.
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