Permanency Tip of the Week: The Real Work Starts AFTER Permanency is Found
Once all the fun, cheering and laughing has faded and the regular routine of family life sets in, this is when the critically important and often very challenging Permanency related work starts. Youth and Families (and sometimes professionals) often want to believe that the honeymoon phase will last forever, but we all know that not to be the case. Limits will be set, fantasies will be denied, expectations will remain unfilled – this is normal family life. When this starts to happen, we need to continually revisit how the Youth and more importantly the caregivers, can display and identify Attachment Friendly Behaviors in themselves and the rest of the family. The display, acknowledgement and practicing of Attachment Friendly Behaviors is critical to the sustaining and strengthening of all relationships.
Permanency Story of the Week: His Best Friend is Now his Brother
A Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Adoption – Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters are trained to focus on the child’s needs and the child’s circle of influence to find a forever home. For Josh, they looked long and hard, but his forever family had been there the whole time. After several pre-adoptive homes didn’t work out, Josh was devastated. He told his WWK recruiter is was worse than when he came into foster care originally. His WWK recruiter consoled him and reiterated her commitment to finding him a family. It was then that she realized how close Josh was to his best friend’s parents. She approached the family who was elated at the possibility, but didn’t know they were allowed to adopt Josh! After working through the process, the adoption was official. Josh told his WWK recruiter that he “couldn’t believe it was real.” and his family said that Josh is “the missing piece of the family puzzle and we’ve finally found it.” Now Josh wakes up each day with someone to give him a hug, someone to help with his homework and his best friend is his brother.
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Where There is Adoption, There is Grief
Robyn Gobbel, LCSW – Grief. We are just terrified of grief. “It’s not grief that’s the problem,” a wise colleague noticed. “It’s everything that gets in the way of the grief getting expressed.” I see this truth everywhere. There is so much grief in adoption and we seem obsessed as a culture to avoid spending any time being with grief. We ignore it, stuff it inside, refuse to speak about it. It festers and grows, and we stuff it even further. Why? What is so scary about grief? The losses in adoption are overwhelming… Maybe you have finally reached a place where you are ready to look at the grief. I’m holding space for you tonight. May you find a compassionate person- a therapist, a spouse, a friend- who can hold space for your grief. Who can offer their presence without judgment. Please don’t grieve alone. Allow yourself the experience of feeling that your grief is OK. It’s OK to express. That someone is willing to walk with you. There is someone who isn’t afraid.
CalYOUTH Study Findings: How Are Extended Foster Care Youth Faring in Housing?
In May, Professor Mark Courtney and a team of researchers from Chapin Hall released the California Youth Transitions to Adult Study, a comprehensive look at the experiences of 19 year-olds in extended foster care in California. At over 170 pages long, the document examines a wide range of topics, including health, education, employment, personal relationships, access to services and much more.
Dr. Mark Courtney will present the key findings from the comprehensive report in a three-part web series, sponsored by the John Burton Foundation, the California Co-Investment Partnership and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Each web seminar will focus on a different topic area of the report. The first of these web seminars will be held next Thursday, July 21st from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and will focus on the experiences of older youth in housing. Specific topics will include the Supervised Independent Living Placement (SILP), THP+FC, living conditions, experiences of homelessness, preparedness for living alone and more.
There will be time to ask Dr. Courtney questions and the opportunity to discuss policy implications for 2017 and beyond. For more information, follow this LINK. To register, follow this LINK.
The Support We All Need As Foster Parents
Dr. John DeGarmo – “I don’t know what to do. Dr. John, I am so confused!” The foster mother stood in front of my resource table, tears in her eyes, voice shaking. It was clear she was at a crossroads in her foster parenting experience, and she was questioning if she could even continue caring for children in her home…Either way, you will benefit by being in a support organization, as they will provide you with not only support, but information, fellowship, and important insight that will help you be a better foster parent. If you do not belong to some type of foster care support group, some form of foster parent association, I encourage you to do so. If there is not one in your area, it may be the time for you to take that lead, and create one yourself. It is not a difficult task, and I write about it in the book The Foster Parenting Manual.
Selecting and Working With a Therapist Skilled in Adoption
Child Welfare Information Gateway – Members of adoptive families may need professional help when concerns arise, and professionals skilled in adoption issues often can prevent concerns from becoming more serious problems. An appropriate therapist will understand that although the adoptive family is often not the source of the child’s problems, it is within the context of the family relationships that the child will begin to heal.
Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue – Self-Test for Helpers
Dartmouth Trauma Interventions Research Center – Helping others puts you in direct contact with other people’s lives. As you probably have experienced, your compassion for those you help has both positive and negative aspects. This self -test helps you estimate your compassion status, which includes your risk of burnout, compassion fatigue and satisfaction with helping others.
Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
Scott Johnson – Social Solutions – Sadly, if you work for child welfare agencies, you know that far too many children have lives marked by serious trauma. A 2012 Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence anticipated that “of the 76 million children currently residing in the United States, an estimated 46 million can expect to have their lives touched by violence, crime, abuse, or psychological trauma” in the subsequent year.
It’s no wonder that the Task Force recommends that every professional or advocate serving children exposed to violence and psychological trauma learn and provide trauma-informed care and trauma focused services. So, what does trauma-informed practice in child welfare look like? Keep reading for some suggestions and resources.