Calendar announcement:
With the upcoming Holidays, the next Permanency in the News will come out the week of 01/05/15.
Permanency Tip of the Week: Week 3 of 4 – Trauma and the Holidays – Questions to consider
What kind of issues or challenges does our own experience related to traumatic or unsettling experiences bring up for us during the Holidays? How do we cope with past and / or recent issues related to our own traumatic or unsettling experiences which seem to linger into or resurface during the Holidays? What kind of issues or challenges might arise for the children and youth in our homes when they have to face their trauma related challenges from their past as well as their present? How can we be more sensitive to the challenges that our children and youth experience during the Holidays as it relates to their past and present experience of trauma? What are some creative ways that we can begin the process of healing from their traumas a little more each day for the children and youth in our home?
Permanency Story of the Week: For the first time in his life, my son has stability
My name is Tammy and I want to thank you for your past support of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. My son, Ronderik (RD), and I have benefited directly from their work. RD lived the first 14 ½ years of his life in the foster care system. I am his 13thand final home. We met in April of 2012 when he was 14 ½ years old; he was working with Breun, an amazing Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) recruiter. I had an overwhelming feeling of knowing he was my son the moment I laid eyes on him, and I knew that soon we would become a family.
Ronderik’s “Big Day,” his biological 15thbirthday and adoption finalization, was pretty incredible. We had a packed courtroom of family and friends. More than 80 people came to celebrate with us at RD’s very first birthday party. He was on cloud nine and said that his “Big Day” was the best day of his life… (Please see the hyperlink for the rest of the story)
Current Permanency related articles:
16th Annual – A Home for the Holidays
Friday December 19th at 9pm EST / PST on CBS. “A Home for the Holidays” is a powerful CBS special presented in partnership by Children’s Action Network, Dave Thomas Foundation and Triage Productions. It shares stories of foster care adoption and features performances from some of America’s most popular musical artists.
Survey Gives Glimpse into Transition from Foster Care to Independence
The Chronicle of Social Change – Foster youth approach the age of 18 with serious health and socioeconomic risk factors, but do so with optimism and a sense of support, according to the baseline findings from a five-year study on California youths released late last week.
New Study Shows Heightened Child Abuse Threat
The new and increasingly influential Children’s Data Network partnered with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project to release a slew of studies showing that one in seven of all California babies born in 2006 and 2007 had been reported for abuse or neglect by age five.
Fact Sheet: Improving Outcomes for Our Nation’s Foster Youth
On any given day, there are over 400,000 children in our nation’s foster care system with over 100,000 waiting to be adopted. Every year, 23,000 of these youth will age out of the system, never having found their forever families. We have seen that youth who age out of foster care without a permanent placement often face challenges with completing their education, unemployment, financial security and the criminal justice system. We also know that there continues to be a disproportionate representation of African-American and Native-American children and youth in foster care. Like the significant commitments are made today, the recommendations in the My Brother’s Keeper Federal Taskforce report identify improving the lives of foster youth as an important goal.
San Diego County Simplifying Adoption
Aiming to make it easier to adopt local children, San Diego County officials announced plans on Tuesday to simplify and streamline the process. Among the changes will be less paperwork, more transparency and better guidance for prospective parents trying to complete a long list of requirements. “We want to do everything we can to accelerate the process and avoid a lot of the redundancies that sometimes happen,” Supervisor Greg Cox said. “We also want to beef up the quality and the amount of information that’s provided to adoptive parents.”
The changes, based on a consultant’s 28-page evaluation of San Diego County’s Adoption Program, also include giving a leg up to families participating in the county’s separate foster care program.
Vice-President Biden Commends Foster Youths at White House
The Chronicle of Social Change – Vice President Joe Biden stopped by a White House screening of the new remake of the film Annie, and outlined a number of steps that will be taken by the Obama administration to assist youth who are aging out of foster care. Also: Connecticut youth attend White House effort to improve foster care.