Permanency Tip of the Week: “Stability” in out of home care
A healthy status for a Youth is not to be “stable” in out of home care, especially congregate care. The goal should be for the Youth to be stable in a permanent, loving family home. When a person is admitted to a physical health hospital (analogous to a congregate care setting), the goal is NEVER to stabilize them and keep them in the hospital for a long time. The plan is always to stabilize the physical health crisis and return the person to the community with the proper supports and services in place as soon as possible. A similar paradigm needs to be in place for all of our Youth in foster care.
Permanency Story of the Week: Jenny – A Story of Permanency – Seneca Family of Agencies
“Jenny” entered the foster care system when she was 10 years old. Her mother had a history of mental illness and Jenny’s father left for South America and has not come back. Over the past 6 years, Jenny has moved 25 times, changing foster homes, group homes, schools and neighborhoods. Needless to say, Jenny has had a very sad childhood, filled with overwhelming loss and trauma. She has had no family to call her own and feels alone and angry most of the time …With the support of Jenny’s social worker, her Wraparound team and our Family Finding Liaison, the decision was made that Jenny deserved to take a weekend trip to the East Coast to get ‘re-introduced’ to her maternal side of the family – 15 family members to be exact!
For more information, please contact Lawrence Murray: lmurray@kinshipcenter.org
Current Permanency related articles:
Foster Girl, A Memoir Paperback by Georgette Todd
In “Foster Girl, A Memoir,” Georgette relives the most traumatic years of her life so to give outsiders an inside, raw and brutally honest look of what happens to homeless children in America when under the state’s care. In this unforgettable debut, readers will not only learn how the foster care system works, but will discover what’s going on internally when an abused child grows up in a series of stranger’s homes and institutions. Edited by Toni Morrison’s first book editor, “Foster Girl” is a poignant account of a spirited girl who, despite hating the life she was born into, hopes to survive long enough to create a whole new world for herself after growing up in foster care. “Some stories need to be heard, and Foster Girl is one of them—it’s the honest, heartbreaking, insider’s look at the foster care system we’ve been lacking.
Adoption Incentives Bill Clears Senate, Heads to President
A bipartisan and bicameral child welfare bill to restructure adoption incentives, require tracking of failed adoptions and limit long-term foster care is headed to President Obama’s desk for signature. The Senate passed The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980) in the late hours of its last session before the November elections. The House has already approved the bill. The bill, if signed by Obama, will effect major change on federal adoption programs in three areas: 1) New Adoption Incentive Awards; 2) Tracking Adoption Disruption; 3) Reining in APPLA.
My Journey in Foster Care: The Second Most Devastating Day of My Young Life
By Jeanette Yoffe, – Founder of the Celia Center – Foster care was never explained to me. At least in a way I could understand at the time. I didn’t know that foster care was a temporary home, and not a permanent one. I didn’t know that the “big people” in my life, like my foster parents, social worker, the judge, and the attorneys, were constantly looking to “place” me and at one point were even making plans (yet again) for me to return to my biological family in Argentina. But more important than what I didn’t know was what they didn’t know: that in the six and a half years I had been living with a foster family, they had become my family. Not foster, not temporary, but real. A family to me.
Children’s Bureau Express – July/August 2014
This issue of Children’s Bureau Express (CBX) spotlights child welfare and domestic violence (DV), including information on the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and DV, research on child welfare case outcomes for families affected by DV, a series of factsheets developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) for parents about the effects of DV on children, and more. This issue of CBX also includes the following sections: News from the Children’s Bureau; Training and Technical Assistance Network Updates; Child Welfare Research; Strategies and Tools for Practice; Resources; and Training and Conferences.
You don’t need to be a foster parent to change a child’s life (Includes video)
There are so many foster children in our communities who have either been placed in foster care temporarily or are looking for their forever home. These children may move from home to home, never experiencing the consistency of an adult who is always there for them. The CASA program is an amazing way to give your time to a foster child and help them thrive.
Abuse Casts a Long Shadow by Changing Children’s Genes
Increasingly, scientists are coming to realize that people’s experiences exert a strong influence on their biology by silencing genes or turning them back on, significantly changing the way a cell functions without changing its DNA sequence. It’s a phenomenon known as epigenetics.
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s – 2014 Foster Youth Internship Report
We are pleased to share with you the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI) 2014 Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Report Shaping Tomorrow with Today’s Minds. In it, former foster youth share their personal experiences and creative federal policy recommendations that address a range of child welfare issues