Greetings Permanency Champions,
Permanency Tip of the Week: Permanency is for Everyone Else, but Not Me
One of the famous lines from the movie “When Harry Met Sally” is when the woman in the diner comments that “I’ll have what she’s having.” Sometimes our Youth in out of home care have the opposite reaction when the topic of Permanency is brought up. They may express that they want nothing to do with Permanency. This could be due in part to a pattern of chronic, unrelenting and unresolved losses and interpersonal trauma. Before we push the topic of Permanency for Youth in this type of situation, let’s be sure that we help them begin to grieve some of their losses and find people, places and things that help them to feel safe in the face of trauma.
Permanency Success Story of the Week: The Squish Story: A Journey from Foster Care to Adoption
Social Justice Solutions – Family Care Network – Tara Brown started fostering as a young single mom because she had a dream about helping children in the foster care system. Her story is beautiful, wonderful and nothing short of miraculous. At first glance, Tara might seem to some as an ordinary woman, but you’ll quickly find that she is far from ordinary, and has made a world of difference to one child, her newly adopted son…
Tara’s journey towards fostering and adoption began when she was working at a group home. Her heart broke for the kids in care and she knew she wanted to help children in the foster care system in some deeper way someday…Adoption wasn’t in Tara’s mind when she first took in Squish. When he was placed with her, he was a tiny six-week old baby who doctors initially thought was blind, and suffering from a lot of other health and attachment deficiencies. As she nurtured her foster son, advocated for him, fought hard for his health and well-being, she began to see signs of attachment developing. Motherhood instincts kicked in, and Tara realized that as attachment grew, Squish’s health problems improved and he began to truly thrive. Tara shared that despite her fears, “I didn’t resist the attachment bonds with Squish, but fully entered into it knowing that it was the best thing for his health and development…”
Now they are family forever, and Tara has felt affirmed by her community through the journey that her new son has been worth the fight. Tara feels that she did not just rescue her son, but that their journey and struggles have shown her that there is joy and strength found in community, and that there is goodness in this world.
Permanency Related Articles:
November is National Adoption Month – Teens Needs Families, No Matter What
Child Welfare Information Gateway and AdoptUSKids provide powerful stories about youth in need of Adoption along with a wide range of information, guidance, videos, podcasts and other resources for professionals, families and agencies.
To Build a “Trauma-Informed Community” Start with Babies
Psychology Today – Research shows development of resilience begins with our earliest relationships…Ways of being together are laid down in our minds and bodies the early weeks, months, and years of life. They become part of us; part of our DNA. Our earliest relationships sculpt our nervous system and the way our body responds to stress. The moment-to-moment mismatch and repair of early infancy is the material of which our self, with our own skin—our own border—is made. Survival of disruption, together with the joy of repair, creates trust, an essential ingredient of intimacy.
Adverse Childhood Experiences can be understood as developmental derailment of the healthy process of mismatch and repair. Prolonged lapse between mismatch and repair occurs when a parent is preoccupied with depression, substance use, marital conflict, or domestic violence. Absent mismatch occurs with an anxious intrusive parent. Unrepaired mismatch occurs in the setting of abuse and neglect…The word “trauma” can itself be traumatizing. As we move forward with this work, I wonder if we might aim to build not “trauma-informed” communities, but, taking the lead from Bessel van der Kolk’s presentation of mother and baby, simply “connected communities.” Parents and babies are an excellent place to start.
Survey of Adoption Attitudes Reveals Surprising Trend
Pettinga – 3BL Media – Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption – Every five years the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption measures the attitudes of Americans and their feelings and thoughts about foster care adoption. This year the survey was completed by Nielsen on behalf of the Foundation and there were some surprising trends.
One of the main take-aways from this year’s study is that many families who adopt already have children, debunking a long-standing opinion that only families who can’t have biological children adopt. There’s also a growing sentiment in the United States that every child is adoptable.
The Anderson family of Celina, Ohio is a great example of a family with children, growing through adoption. The Andersons have eight children, four of whom were adopted from foster care. They shared that they are so grateful for the blessing of adoption, and encourage everyone to be a voice for the voiceless. And we’re grateful for families like them who support foster care adoption! #ItsWorthIt
Eight Child Welfare Systems Selected to Test Workforce Strategies
Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development – Staff turnover in child welfare agencies is typically up to six times the national average turnover rate across all industries. High turnover is just one example of costly workforce issues that can negatively impact vulnerable children. The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) will partner with eight sites to strengthen their workforce…
Over the next four years the QIC-WD will work with the selected sites to address and study potential solutions to their specific workforce issues. A review of the literature, benchmarking survey of current workforce trends, and implementation and evaluation tools will be developed and shared as part of the project. The QIC-WD is committed to using the best available research from a variety of fields to identify strategies to strengthen the workforce of its partner sites.
“Ultimately, a stronger workforce with less turnover and more supportive organizational environments should improve the outcomes of the vulnerable families and children served by the child welfare system,” according to Dr. Graef. The QIC-WD expects that this project will result in evidence-supported workforce strategies applicable to other public and Tribal child welfare agencies and an improved understanding of the connection between the child welfare workforce and outcomes for children and families.
Leading Organizations Partner on a Campaign to Heal Childhood Trauma
PR Web – Calo Programs, innovators in healing the effects of early life trauma in young people, is partnering with three of the nation’s leading authorities on attachment, trauma and adoption: the American Adoption Congress (AAC), the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) and the Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh). Together they are launching a first-of-its-kind mobile campaign to increase awareness, compassion and understanding of the lifelong impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and to share a hope for healing. The purpose of this five-city bus tour is to raise awareness of how ACEs impact the development of 1 in 4 children in the U.S., and how these often-overlooked experiences can adversely impact development, in a physical, mental and emotional way.
-
Please forward this blog to other Permanency Champions and those that could use a healthy dose of Permanency.
-
If this Blog has been forwarded to you, please sign up to receive it directly by going to my website or emailing me: drgregmanning@gmail.com.
-
If you are interested in my keynote speaking, professional training or consulting services, please contact me through my website, call me: 949-683-0753 or email: drgregmanning@gmail.com
-
Take care and keep up the Permanency work – Our children, youth, young adults, families and communities are depending on it!