Permanency Tip of the Week: Permanency in a Trans-Racial Family
When a youth in foster care enters a new foster / adoptive family, the fundamental question of whether they will be accepted into the family can be an all-consuming one in terms of the amount of emotional and cognitive resources of the youth. When you layer on the additional factor of a child entering a new family that is of a different race / culture, you can imagine how much more challenging this experience can be for the Youth. It is the role of the adults, of all capacities / roles, to openly address this issue and ensure that the Youth’s journey is one in which the racial and cultural needs are met on an ongoing basis.
Permanency Story of the Week: 32-Year-Old Man Adopted by Former Foster Mother
Nearly 20 years after being ripped apart from his foster parents, a 32-year-old man was officially adopted Friday in San Diego by the woman he has always considered to be his mother. Maurice Griffin was abandoned as a baby. At age three, he found a loving family in foster parents Lisa Godbold and her husband, Charles. Their story of family, love, loss, struggle and perseverance is something they hope will impact other foster children and foster families out there. Godbold says the message is simple: don’t give up. “Don’t give up – persevere. Keep looking for that love, that family connection, whether it’s with an infant or your 32-year-old child,” she added.
“She’s my mother,” said Griffin. “She has always been my mother.”
Current Permanency related articles:
Foster youth effectively advocate at state level
Thanks to the California Youth Connection, foster children in the state will have improved sibling visitation rights next year. CYC is a youth-led organization that empowers current and former foster youths ages 14 through 24 through policy change and community development. 32 different CYC chapters traveled in February to Day at the Capitol, where they engaged in lobbying workshops and interacted with legislators.
Good News for Children When Congress Works Together
While we rarely hear good news these days about Congress, I have some to share. Continuing a long tradition of bipartisan leadership on behalf of abused and neglected children, last month both the House and the Senate passed and the president signed into law the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980/P.L. 113-183). Senator Hatch deserves praise for long history of helping children.
“Natural” Mentoring Offers Benefits for Older Foster Youth
Natural mentoring, unlike mentor-mentee relationships established through formal programs, involves a youth identifying an adult mentor from their community with whom they already have a trusting relationship. These mentors may be teachers, coaches, adult relatives, or someone from their faith community and are shown to improve resilience, mental health outcomes, and long term social connectivity for foster youth, especially older foster youth aging out of care. A 2008 survey published in Pediatrics found 50% of youth who recently aged out of foster care said that they were not connected to a natural mentor.
Their stories begin with heartbreak. A family unable or unwilling to care for them. Parents dead, addicted to drugs, absent. About 400,000 children in the U.S. live in foster care, according to federal officials. Entry into the foster care system is meant to keep them safe, but the reality is often fraught with its own dangers and disappointments.
Los Angeles Times photojournalist Robert Gauthier interviewed more than a dozen young men and women from the Los Angeles area who were on the verge of being emancipated from foster care or had recently aged-out of “the system.” Many fight a daily battle to shed the label of “system kid.” Often they are ill-prepared to survive on their own, let alone succeed. They talked to The Times about their past, as well as their dreams for the future. Asked to describe themselves in one word, they answered “survivor,” “driven,” “adaptable.”
Sixto Cancel, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, spent much of his childhood in the child welfare system with no family financial or emotional support to fall back on. Today he is not only a successful college student but a national advocate and role model for many other foster care alumni.
Trans-Racial Adoption and Foster Care
Many children in foster care are placed at some point — either for foster care or adoption — with a family that is of a different race. This guidebook was created to help parents and children in trans-racial homes learn how to thrive in and celebrate their bi-cultural family; and for children to gain a strong sense of racial identity and cultural connections.