Tagged With "First Place for Youth"
Blog Post
The Little Book of ACEs
What this little book tells you This little book has been written by a small group of front line practitioners who have extensive experience in supporting children who are living with trauma and/or experiencing traumatic events. We are all based in the North West of England and work in the education sector and the NHS. We have written this Little Book to inform other practitioners about what ACEs are, what their immediate effects are and how they can affect children both in the short-term...
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The Mockingbird Society - Youth Trainings [mockingbirdsociety.org]
The Mockingbird Society, an advocacy organization for youth in foster care, offers trainings for youth and young adults on topics such as Legislative Advocacy, Voice Development, Transitions, The Power of Voting, & Storytelling for Advocacy. The mission of this organization is to improve foster care and end youth homelessness through guiding principles such as: Children in "the system" are our children, our responsibility and Institutions do not change lives - relationships do Every...
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The Support that is Helping Make College Graduation a New Reality for Foster Youth (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
About 30 percent of high school students in California go on to graduate from college, but only about 8 percent of foster youth make it that far, according to research by the Public Policy Institute of California and the University of Chicago. Young people who spend their teen years in foster care are more likely to land in jail than to earn a college degree. Those bleak prospects deter some students from even considering higher-ed options. Under the umbrella of Guardian Scholars programs,...
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The Trauma-Sensitive Parenting Summit & Commentary
"Having a history of trauma or loss does not by itself predispose you to have a child with disorganization. It is the lack of resolution that is the essential risk factor. It is never too late to move toward making sense of your experiences and healing your past. Not only you but also your child will benefit." That's a quote from the book Parenting from the Inside Out: How A Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, which was published fifteen freaking years ago. It's...
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This Is How You End the Foster Care to Prison Pipeline [nationswell.com]
Almost half of all foster care youth end up in jail within two years of aging out of the system. First Place for Youth has figured out a housing and support strategy to keep these young adults out from behind bars and living on their own. Moments of stability were rare during Pamela Bolnick's childhood. She repeatedly witnessed her father beat her mother, a Venezuelan immigrant diagnosed with schizophrenia. Bolnick's mom eventually left her abusive spouse, fleeing to the Bay Area with her...
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‘This is not a child safety crisis. It’s a poverty crisis, a racism crisis.’ – A social worker and former foster youth featured in HBO’s ‘Foster’ shares her vision of societal and system change (www.risemagazine.org)
Excerpts from article by Sarah Harris from Rise Magazine . Q: What led you to work in the foster care system? A: I am a former foster youth and I’ve been a social worker at the L.A. Department of Child and Family Services for 5 years. I entered foster care through probation, and I got into probation through survival. I was breaking the law for clothes and food. In foster care, I bounced around a lot. For the most part I was AWOL. I was in group homes but I stayed with family or friends.
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TIC: News and Notes for February 2020
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Podcast: What happened to you? (Part 1) Podcast: What happened to you? (Part 2) Podcast: What happened to you? (Part 3) Family dynamics may influence suicidal thoughts in children Fawning: The fourth trauma response we don't talk about FPs are best equipped to tackle adverse childhood experiences New study reveals annual cost of childhood adversity in California is approximately $113 billion Signs your child may be struggling from an adverse childhood experience...
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Time Spent on Me Wasn’t Wasted [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Ricardo Rodriguez is a 26-year-old San Diego resident and former foster youth who balances a job in tech with volunteer work and entrepreneurial pursuits. Thanks to his relentless drive and support from key sources, his life has turned out far different from previous expectations. During his childhood, medical professionals said Rodriguez would never be able to walk, talk or understand words. Despite many obstacles, Rodriguez has made his lifelong dream of working in the tech industry a...
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To help address foster care tragedies, better understand and listen to youth [www.tribtalk.org]
Earlier this month, two teenagers in foster care were struck by a vehicle after running away from Child Protective Services (CPS) offices in Houston, where they had been staying because of a lack of appropriate placement options. One, a 15-year-old girl, died from her injuries. The tragic fatality has heightened attention on Texas’ foster care capacity crisis, but it is important to recognize that the issues Texas must address are much broader. Due to challenges with how information was...
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Toxic Childhoods [politco.com]
Often times, a pediatrician or medical professional well-versed in the effects of ACEs or toxic stress can be the initial bridge to services, support, and building resilience for children, youth and families served by child welfare. It's exciting and encouraging to read about more and more pediatricians grounding their medical practice within ACEs framework. A toddler came into my examination room recently at Bayview Child Health Center in Bayview Hunters Point, an underserved, largely...
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Trauma-Informed Care as a Universal Precaution: Beyond the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire [jamanetwork.com]
By Nicole Racine, Teresa Killam, and Sheri Madigan, JAMA Pediatrics, November 4, 2019 Experiences of childhood adversity are common, with more than 50% of adults reporting having experienced at least 1 adversity as children and more than 6% exposed to 4 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). There is currently a controversial debate in the medical field as to whether the ACEs questionnaire, which asks about abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction before age 18 years, should be...
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Trauma-Informed Uber [chronicalofsocialchange.org]
As Los Angeles County mulls the idea of using ride-sharing services to escort foster youth to visitations with biological parents, some child-welfare experts wonder how such a service would be able to grapple with children with significant experiences of trauma and loss. Children in the county’s foster-care system remain spread out across the vast geographical expanse of Los Angeles County. Trips to court, meetings with social workers or visitations with parents or other family members can...
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Trauma Sensitive Approaches to the COVID -19 Response
We at Alive and Well Communities wanted to take a moment to present some considerations for how our community responds to COVID-19, through the trauma lens. These suggestions assume that additional core institutions will close and/or must limit the ways they typically engage with community members. It is also assumed that a number of community members will have to self-quarantine and “shelter in place.” These suggestions are guided by the principles of trauma informed care: trustworthiness,...
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Treating trauma's steep toll on native youth remains challenge for courts [inforum.com]
Of the many reaches of trauma-informed practice, a trauma-informed court room seems to be one of the most impactful. The court is an instutution which holds tremendous power, through the work of trauma-informed courts, judges are uniquely positioned to use this power to help traumatized youth who appear before them. What this means is a more accurate assessment of what a traumatized youth may need as far as mental health, behavioral, and social-emotional support. When trauma-informed systems...
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Trump Administration Approves Vouchers for Housing After Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By John Kelly, The Chronicle of Social Change, July 25, 2019 Earlier this year, we reported on the case made by current and former foster youths to use existing authority at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to connect youth aging out of care with housing supports. The Chronicle of Social Change has learned that, after a thorough review of the policy by HUD’s general counsel, the agency is set this week to approve this and notify thousands of public housing authorities.
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Trump’s Top Child Welfare Official Speaks [ChronicleofSocialChange.org]
by Daniel Heimpel , November 6, 2017 In June, the Trump administration hired Jerry Milner to lead the federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees federal child welfare funding and policy. The Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) was established in 1977 and oversees the Family and Youth Services Bureau as well as the much larger Children’s Bureau, which was created by President William Howard Taft back in 1912. As acting commissioner of...
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Two New Grant Opportunities for Youth Development and Diversion Services
In 2019, more than $40 million will become available to fund community-based, culturally rooted, trauma-informed services for youth in California as alternatives to arrest and incarceration. Thousands of California youth are arrested every year for low-level offenses. Youth who are arrested or incarcerated for low-level offenses are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to suffer negative health-outcomes, and more likely to have later contact with the justice system.
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Understanding Trauma to Promote Healing in Child Welfare [co-invest.org]
California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership, Summer 2019. For child welfare stakeholders, the concept that children and their families come into our systems bearing the burden of traumatic experiences associated with neglect and abuse is not new. What has evolved over the last couple of decades is the science of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and understanding of the long-term physical and behavioral health consequences and high societal costs. A landmark study , and the many...
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Videos & Audio
20/20 Reports On Foster Children And How Psychotropic Drugs Are Being Used To Control Behavior/Emotions. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be Link:...
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‘We are just destroying these kids’: The foster children growing up inside detention centers [Washington Post]
Photo credit and caption: Heard leaves the courtroom at the Boone County Courthouse in Madison. He hopes to train to be a tattoo artist. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Dec. 30, 2019 Though he's never been convicted of a crime, Geard Mitchell spent part of his childhood in a juvenile detention center, at times sleeping on cement floors under harsh fluorescent lights left on through the night during lockdowns. He attended high school by clicking through online courses and had “no one to...
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‘We are just destroying these kids’: The foster children growing up inside detention centers [Washington Post]
Photo credit and caption: Heard leaves the courtroom at the Boone County Courthouse in Madison. He hopes to train to be a tattoo artist. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Dec. 30, 2019 Though he's never been convicted of a crime, Geard Mitchell spent part of his childhood in a juvenile detention center, at times sleeping on cement floors under harsh fluorescent lights left on through the night during lockdowns. He attended high school by clicking through online courses and had “no one to...
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We Have to Better Understand What Foster Parents Need [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Ross Hunter, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 11, 2019 As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington. I talked to caseworkers, foster parents, birth families, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and anyone else I could find who had an opinion. I got an earful. “Everything is broken.” “I had a great experience.” “The caseworker never called...
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We Have to Better Understand What Foster Parents Need [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Ross Hunter, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 11, 2019 As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington. I talked to caseworkers, foster parents, birth families, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and anyone else I could find who had an opinion. I got an earful. “Everything is broken.” “I had a great experience.” “The caseworker never called...
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We Need to Help Relatives Navigate Their Child Welfare Options [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Jenny Keefe and Nikeyah Flagg, The Chronicle of Social Change, November 21, 2019 A new data project focusing on foster care capacity has illustrated a growing reality across the nation’s child welfare system: relatives are increasingly stepping up to provide care for children removed from their parents. The newly released data, compiled and analyzed by The Chronicle of Social Change, shows that the most recent surge in youth entering foster care is over. It also finds that a majority of...
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We need to protect people’s housing during this pandemic. And beyond. [preventioninstitute.org]
From Prevention Institute, March 27, 2020 Physical distancing has become key to managing the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. But the economic disruption that accompanies “sheltering in place” has caused millions of people to lose their jobs. Come April 1, when the rent or mortgage payment is due, the many people who just became unemployed and those who were already living paycheck to paycheck will be at risk of losing their homes in addition to their livelihoods. Stable, safe, and...
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‘We Want to Be Heard, Not Fixed’: Voices of Foster Youth [risemagazine.org]
These days, I follow so many related organizations that I am never sure when I come onto ACEs Connection, if I am simply reposting something I discovered from ACEs connection in the first place! That's just a way of saying- this is an...
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What Does Trauma-Informed Mean to Foster Youth? [JJIE.org]
For three decades, I have listened in awe to the brave voices of children, youth and families who have shared, in anguish, their past experiences — experiences that anyone would objectively call “adverse” and ones that can have lasting effects on health and well-being. The seminal ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study opened my eyes to how pervasive their stories were and how these findings might influence the development of effective interventions and treatment, especially for...
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What's In The Coronavirus Stimulus for Youth and Family Services [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By John Kelly, The Chronicle of Social Change, April 1, 2020 Congress passed, and President Trump has signed, the CARES Act, a massive piece of stimulus legislation aimed at shoring up the American economy and protecting workers and businesses in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. One of the nation’s largest employment sectors – human services, a field dominated by nonprofits delivering contracted help to children and families – secured some relief as Americans prepare for a recession...
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What Success Looks Like: On-Campus Resources and Support for Foster Youth (socialjusticesolutions.org)
After identifying a statewide need for support services for foster youth, the Foster Youth Success Initiative (FYSI) was created in 2006 through a collaboration between the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), the Foundation for California Community Colleges and numerous partners and stakeholders. According to Jessica Smith, the statewide liaison for FYSI, the “network of support” provided by FYSI includes assistance with academic needs, financial aid, physical and...
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Who Cares: A National Count of Foster Homes and Families [fostercarecapacity.com]
By The Chronicle of Social Change, September 11, 2019 There are more than 400,000 children and youth living on foster care today. The questions the Who Cares project endeavors to answer are: Who are the people caring for them, and in what types of settings? Most foster youth live with relatives, in the home of foster parents, or in group homes or residential facilities. But as foster care numbers have crept up in the past six years, and there has been a push towards phasing out group homes,...
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Who Cares: A National Count of Foster Homes [fostercarecapacity.com]
By The Chronicle of Social Change, October 2019 Who Cares is the nation’s first public resource on foster care capacity. The Chronicle of Social Change collects data directly from each state, and combines that with specially obtained federal reports to shed light on two critical questions: How many kids are in foster care today? And where are they living? This year the data suggests that nationwide, the number of youth in care is going down, and the number of foster homes is going up. But...
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Who Cares: A National Count of Foster Homes [fostercarecapacity.com]
By The Chronicle of Social Change, October 2019 Who Cares is the nation’s first public resource on foster care capacity. The Chronicle of Social Change collects data directly from each state, and combines that with specially obtained federal reports to shed light on two critical questions: How many kids are in foster care today? And where are they living? This year the data suggests that nationwide, the number of youth in care is going down, and the number of foster homes is going up. But...
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Why Do LA’s Foster Care Facilities Keep Calling The Cops On Traumatized Kids? (witnessla.com)
On March 21, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed an important motion that instructed the Director of the Office of Child Protection, Michael Nash, former presiding judge of Los Angeles County’s Juvenile Court, to find out why so many of LA County’s foster children were crossing into the county’s delinquency system, what could be done to prevent that crossing, and how these so-called crossover kids could be helped if and when and if they found themselves in the clutches of both...
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Why it makes more sense to care for kids and parents at the same time [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
It’s the flu season, and David, a 4-month-old baby with a chronic lung disease, is with his pediatrician for a flu shot. David’s condition leaves him particularly vulnerable to respiratory illnesses like the flu. During the visit, David’s parents, Clare and Dave, discover that they need to make separate appointments to receive their own flu shots, which only complicates their already overwhelmed daily routine. Now imagine a place where David and his parents can receive a flu shot at the same...
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Why Keeping Current Foster Parents Can Be More Important Than Recruiting New Ones [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Foster parents are the primary intervention in the lives of abused and neglected children. In order for children placed into foster care to receive the safety and stability they need to heal and thrive, available and willing high-quality families are needed. In California, finding enough caregivers for the state’s foster children is a key plank of the state’s current child welfare initiative, the Continuum of Care Reform ( CCR ). That reform effort is driven by a need to place more of these...
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Why Neuroscience, Positive Feedback Are Transformative in Youth Work [youthtoday.org]
I am a long-time advocate for how the power of neuroscience can transform the youth-serving profession. When combined with a commitment to putting the needs of youth first and a sizable dose of courageous leadership, the insights and practical guidance provided by brain research can have remarkable results. A prominent example of the transformational application of this “secret recipe” can be found at the Sacramento County (California) Youth Detention Facility (YDF). In 2010, Sacramento...
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Why We Need To Collect Data on LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
In the United States , the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) collects demographic and other types of information on all youth who enter the foster care system. This practice allows the government and the public to track how well the system is meeting its ultimate goal — to place all children into stable and loving homes. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) made a final rule that would...
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Young Parents Speak Out: Barriers, Bias, and Broken Systems [aecf.org]
By National Crittenton and Katcher Consulting, Annie E. Casey Foundation, March 2020 Founded in 1883 as a social justice advocacy organization, National Crittenton has been dedicated to the needs and potential of girls, young women and women facing violence, poverty and injustice across the country for more than a century. Additionally, National Crittenton convenes the 26 Yet, systems have turned a blind eye to the ways in which the “safety net” designed for adults is a “trap” for young...
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Youth Voice Contest Second Place Winner: “Ellusion” [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
This year, Fostering Media Connections (FMC) launched its first-ever Youth Voice nonfiction writing contest and invited current and former foster youth between the ages of 18 and 24 to submit essays. This year’s theme: “What love is.” Dozens of youth entered the contest from all over the United States. The winning essays appear in the May/June issue of Fostering Families Today (FMC’s magazine for foster parents). Following is a piece by our Second Place winner, Sierra Howard. Check back...
Ask the Community
trauma assessment tools for youth
I am looking for simple tool for intakes regarding children and past trauma...If anyone can share trauma assessment tools that would be great
Comment
Re: The Ubering of Foster Care has Begun [ChronicleofSocialChange.org]
Thank you for sharing this imperative article Maggie. Tremendously exciting to see this development of trauma informed Uber transportation for parents to be with their children, foster parents to have the additional parent engagement with their foster child(ren), the economic savings with systems, and most importantly, the child/youth having community/family engagement during such a vulnerable time in their lives through caring adults supporting their healing journey.
Comment
Re: Child Welfare and Human Trafficking - Connections Rooted in Trauma
Our organization, CHRIS 180 has been using ACE scores to triage and plan services for the foster youth we work with since 2012. www.chris180.org
Comment
Re: Child Protection Agency in Australia Introduces Digital Memory Boxes for Kids in Foster Care
Originally Posted by Tina Marie Hahn, MD: One of the lead child protection agencies in Australia, Barnardos Australia , has introduced a resource for children and youth in foster care : a digital “memory box” called MyStory . The purpose of the digital memory box is to give children and youth in foster care a place to store their photos, report cards, drawings, letters, and other documents without fear of losing them while in foster care. In doing so, the agency hopes to provide a sense of...
Reply
Re: Are Foster Care Children Excessively Medicated?
This really has been an ongoing issue for several years. I see the biggest problem here being time for appropriate assessments, time with the right people involved with the child(ren) to get adequate history, and then payment for the services of the professionals who conduct the evaluations. The current modus operandi is that anyone (even a driver) can deposit a child at a clinic for an evaluation by a psychiatrist who is given very little time. Yes, I had a 3 y.o. brought in by a driver for...
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Re: Are Foster Care Children Excessively Medicated?
Agreed. The field is doing a lot to try and train therapists; however, as in all of child welfare, there is so much turnover. Also, evidence-based trauma training is expensive and typically involves a follow up of 9+ monthly supervision sessions. But it is where we must go! Likewise, this is where I recommend that all foster youth be screened at intake for trauma experienced/level of...and that treatment clearly involve a response to PTSD appropriately and/or mental illness as may or may not...
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Re: Are Foster Care Children Excessively Medicated?
Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. These posts are really helpful in understanding the dynamic of the problem when it comes to foster care youth and mental health. Are there any resources you might recommend for a social worker or clinician or even adoptive parent who is trying to deal with these issues? I know that trauma-informed training requires a lot of time and practice, but if there's a primer or background material that others might benefit from, maybe we can share it here.
Reply
Re: Are Foster Care Children Excessively Medicated?
Here is report in the Providence Journal about efforts by the Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth and Families to tighten rules for prescribing drugs to foster children: http://ireader.olivesoftware.com/Olive/iReader/ProvidenceJournalPress/SharedArticle.ashx?document=TPJ%5C2014%5C06%5C05&article=Ar00105 Elizabeth Prewitt Community Manager/Policy Analyst, ACEs Connection