Permanency Tip of the Week: When working with a foster youth, who has experienced a significant trauma history, it is critically important to view their periods of emotional and behavioral distress through a trauma lens. Through this lens, you will be able to distinguish between their chronological age (which is how the rest of the world sees them) and their developmental age (which is a function of when the trauma history began and how much they have healed since then). Our interventions during these periods of distress need to be centered on their developmental age.
Permanency Story of the Week:In Their Own Words: The Wilder Family’s Story of Adoption
Wendy’s “In Their Own Words” video series tell real stories of adoption from the voices of adopted children and their families. William and Elizabeth Wilder, parents to Christopher (12) and Elizabeth (4), share their journey of reuniting two biological siblings into their family through adoption.
Current Permanency related articles:
Foster Focus’ Editor Keynote Speech UC Merced
Chris Chmielewski – Owner, Editor and Creator of Foster Focus Magazine – Talks to a group of foster youth about the importance of hard work and the value of foster kids.
Foster children become focus of California schools
California is embarking on a first-of-its-kind attempt to improve the academic lives of foster youth by giving schools more money to meet their special learning and emotional needs and holding educators and administrators accountable. But first, officials have to figure out how many school-age foster children they have and where they are enrolled in a state that’s home to nearly one-fifth of the nation’s foster children. The change marks a fundamental shift from past practice, which held that schools should not get the information to avoid stigmatizing children or violating their privacy, said Jesse Hahnel, director of the Foster Youth Education Initiative at the National Center for Youth Law.
Michael Jones, a resource teacher in the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento, has doubts. “You can’t fund decency. You can’t fund caring. And unfortunately, that’s a big problem with the system right now is the mindset is we will throw money at it and we will make things better,” Jones said. “There is not enough money on the planet to put people in kids’ lives who actually care and are there because they think it’s the right thing to do.” Six years ago, he founded a weekly class where students in foster care could meet each other, talk about their struggles, get a hug and pick up school supplies, toiletries, and even prom attire that he bought or were donated. He has since expanded it to the district’s other high schools – Courageous Connection.
Foster Youth Shadow Members of Congress
The third annual “Congressional Foster Youth Shadow Day” was a tremendous success! Nearly 70 foster youth and foster youth alumni traveled to Washington, D.C. last week. They shadowed members of Congress, got a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the House of Representatives, and shared their experiences in the child welfare system as a way to influence policy around foster care.
Creating a New Narrative: Collaborative and Effective Evaluation in Tribal Communities
Throughout U.S. history, many American Indian and Alaska Native communities have experienced intrusive research and judgmental evaluations that have caused harm. As a result, many fears about evaluation persist. Based on the efforts of a CB-sponsored workgroup of experts, this video introduces a vision for the future of Tribal child welfare evaluation and a guide for developing culturally appropriate and scientifically rigorous evaluation.
What Is Child Welfare? A Guide for Behavioral Health/Mental Health Professionals
Describes how behavioral health/mental health professionals and child welfare workers can support one another’s efforts in promoting healthy functioning and well-being among children and families in child welfare.
Training Announcement – Signs of Safety and Family Finding
The first-ever training exploring the integration of Signs of Safety and Family Finding will be led Andrew Turnell, and Kevin Campbell at the beautiful Oak Ridge Conference Center in Chaska, MN on October 21-24. Over the past 18 months, Andrew Turnell, the co-creator of Signs of Safety, the leading international approach to child protection casework, and Kevin Campbell, developer of the Family Finding Model, have begun working closely together as an increasing number of jurisdictions are seeking to implement the Family Finding and Signs of Safety approaches.
Marriage and Foster Parenting – Dr. John DeGarmo
Sadly, many marriages suffer during the foster process. When you are putting much of your energies and time into your foster child, you may be so drained and exhausted that you soon neglect your spouse. Further complication this, some foster children are skilled at pitting one parent against the other, bringing some heated and very unproductive arguments to your home. Make sure that you and your spouse are on the same page with your parenting, and ensure that the two of you are consistent when it comes to all decision making with your foster child. Finally, do not neglect the needs and concerns of your spouse. Instead, make your marriage the cornerstone of your home, and work to make it a productive and happy one.