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In collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Child Focus, Child Trends has developed the STRENGTH principles to serve youth in the child welfare and justice systems in positive, developmentally appropriate ways. The principles help systems that serve children and young adults apply Positive Youth Development approaches, focus on equity and inclusion, and involve communities and families. More information is available here: Integrating Positive Youth Development and Racial Equity,...

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) recently released several reports related to youth involved in systems of care: Breaking the Stigma and Changing the Narrative: Strategies for Supporting Expectant and Parenting Youth Involved in Systems of Care provides an overview and critique of research findings about expectant and parenting youth and the stigma associated with young parenthood. It also discusses four strategies to break the stigmatization of expectant and parenting youth,...

By Emma Peyton Williams, upEND Contributor, November 17, 2021 By including the family policing system in their book Prison by Any Other Name , Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law link the punitive nature of the prison system to “the current punitive model for social services.” The similarities that Schenwar and Law note, such as each system’s focus on coercing compliance as opposed to changing material realities and the disproportionate impact of each system on people of color, particularly Black...

Spring registration is now open for Trauma-Informed Education & Supporting Marginalized Students courses! NYC teachers may earn A+ credits.

After a successful pilot launch, the Foster Care Supply Drive is set to expand throughout SW Washington State in the Spring of 2022. During the pilot phase, which began in Washougal/Camas we were able to procure enough donations from 6 businesses to create 110 welcome bags for youth entering foster care. Donation bins and marketing materials are scheduled to be delivered between March 1st, 2022, and March 4th, 2022. The Foster Care Supply Drive was created based on first-hand experiences of...

By The Imprint Staff Reporters, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 11, 2022 A new study of young people who have been in foster care and are enrolled at community colleges in Illinois paints a dismal picture of their educational success, and researchers said they would expect similar results if studies were conducted in other states. Released Monday by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, the study said such youths typically struggled in high school, leaving them ill-prepared for...

By Paul S. Dilorenzo, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 3, 2022 I'm not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. They’re more of a sugar high than an actual meal. I favor the twelve step practice of daily introspection and ongoing self-reflection. It’s more realistic, longer lasting and helps us to understand the complexity of the tasks involved with real change. That’s because continuous examination requires us to ask: how I am being called to improve and to reflect on my decisions?

By Alex Boyd, Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press, The Star, January 4, 2022 Visitors have come from Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. A biker group cruised all the way from Edmonton. Grandmothers brought their own chairs so they could sit and stay awhile. In the six months since Cowessess First Nation announced the discovery of 751 unmarked graves, the site has become an informal gathering place for community members and strangers alike who come to pay their respects to the people...

Intro to Trauma Informed Care is for YOU! Designed to help you implement a trauma-informed approach throughout your organization, this live webinar provides an introductory understanding, and will equip you with tools you can use right away.

By Catherine Porter and Vjosa Isai, The New York Times, Jan. 4, 2022 The government agreed to a landmark settlement to repair the system and compensate those families harmed by it. It potentially ends many years of litigation. The Canadian government announced Tuesday that it had reached what it called the largest settlement in Canada’s history, paying $31.5 billion to fix the nation’s discriminatory child welfare system and compensate the Indigenous people harmed by it. The agreement in...

By Jane Coaston, title image by Alex Merto, The New York Times, December 18, 2021 In 2006, 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel was murdered by his foster parents near Cincinnati. They left him in a second-floor closet in August wrapped in tape and a blanket in a playpen with no food or water while they went out of town to a family reunion, dog in tow. When they returned home, they took his body to an abandoned chimney, doused it in gasoline and burned it, throwing most of the remains into the Ohio...

This Toolkit from Child Trends is for child welfare staff, supervisors, and administrators who work with and on behalf of children, youth, and families who experience a natural disaster. The information and resources in the Toolkit provide evidence- and trauma-informed guidance for promoting positive outcomes for children and youth who experience natural disasters. Click here to access the toolkit.