Tagged With "Caring Adult"
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Researchers Find Association between Participation in Extended Foster Care and Reduced Risk of Homelessness [chapinhall.org]
By Huiling Feng, Justin S. Harty, Nathanael J. Okpych, and Mark E. Courtney, Chapin Hall at The University of Chicago, June 2020 A fundamental tenet of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 is that allowing foster youth to remain in care past their 18th birthday would improve their outcomes as adults. One of the most significant challenges transition-age foster youth face is homelessness. Foster youth experience disproportionately higher rates of...
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California Considers Extending Foster Care for Young Adults Until Pandemic Emergency Ends [calhealthreport.org]
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report, June 22, 2020 At the beginning of March, Monse Gonzalez had her entire year planned. She would graduate from community college, save part of her paychecks as a childcare worker, and start school at the University of Santa Barbara. Then came the pandemic. Suddenly, everything Gonzalez, 18, had worked for was in jeopardy: her job, her housing, her associates degree. While many young adults have families to lean on during these uncertain times,...
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Column: How parents can help a child with post-traumatic stress disorder [milforddailynews.com]
By Lauren Barry, The Milford Daily News, June 27, 2020 When most people think of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) they likely picture an adult who has been in combat, a serious accident or experienced violence. Children can also have PTSD either from experiencing trauma directly or witnessing it. Childhood trauma can be from a specific event like a car accident or dog bite, but it can also include witnessing domestic violence or enduring neglect or abuse. Children diagnosed with PTSD...
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Resilience for Children & Families: Being Brave When Things are Hard
Building Resilience with Children During Racial Discrimination & Violence: This attached Resilience Brief for Children has been the hardest one I have written yet. I have been an active advocate for the equal treatment of people from all backgrounds, religions, ethnic heritages, orientations, and families my entire life. It is hard to see the pain present today, not only due to COVID19 but also due to the harm and anger we see daily in the news. I want to share a story about the person...
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Building Relationships and a Better Foster Care System [positiveexperience.org]
7/2/20, positiveexperience.org/blog Today’s post is based on an interview with Elliott Orrin Hinkle (they/them), an alumnus of the Wyoming Foster Care System. They are an advocate for child welfare, mental health, and the LGBTQ population. Nationally they work as a consultant to the National Capacity Building Center for States at ICF International and at JBS International working on NYTD. Since 2014 they have been a trainer of Youth Thrive and recently were certified to train on Youth Thrive...
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Do safe, stable, and nurturing relationships work? New research has important findings for responding to ACEs
While we know that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can cause risk behaviors, research has told us that the presence of protective factors can help mitigate the effects of ACEs. Common risk behaviors such as smoking tobacco and alcohol misuse can be a result from the trauma of childhood disadvantage. In responding to ACEs, public health research proposes that protective factors such as safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs) with a caring adult can mitigate the long-term effects of...
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‘I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT ON MY OWN,’ YOUNG MAN SAYS OF RCS IN UKIAH AND FOSTER FAMILIES (Redwood Community Services)
“My whole life resulted into a positive outcome. Even though there were rough patches (no matter how big or small) it made me the person who I am today. I could have not done it on my own.” This is Justin, age 22, who is a young adult in Stepping Stones, a Transitional Housing Program since he was 18. Redwood Community Services (RCS) Stepping Stones Transitional Housing program serves youth ages 16-plus by providing independent living skills to prepare them for adulthood. Prior to turning...
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Rebecca Lewis Pankratz: Breaking Generational Poverty, Poverty Circles, & Poverty Programs
"A CEs Connection is the curator of incredible hope, healing and possibility. Parents are not the bad guys. Most of us are just kids with ACEs who grew up..." Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz Last Friday, @Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz joined our A Better Normal series to discuss poverty circles and programs. Rebecca is the Director of Learning Centers as Essdack, as well as a poverty consultant, and we met online, via Twitter (her handle is @pOVERty’s Edge. Rebecca is a brilliant speaker, gifted writer, and...
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Do Affirmations Work for Children? Building Brainpower for Resiliency
When an affirmation works, we gather real-life examples our brain can use as evidence that success IS possible, which changes the way we think. In my work with children, I find that this tool can work magic at home and in school! When we challenge our thoughts with evidence that a positive result is possible, it can stop negative thinking in its tracks.
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Parents Need Help with Trauma Too: A Bottom-Up Approach
Psych Central published my latest article on trauma and it's one you don't want to miss! Through my work with children coping with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) the historical trajectory became very clear to me. Often childhood trauma doesn't start with the child who was traumatized, but it starts with the parents and grandparents of that child who were overwhelmed by adversity and never had help. Unprocessed emotional trauma is likely to be passed on in some capacity to at least the...
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Day Care, Grandparent, Pod Or Nanny? How To Manage The Risks Of Pandemic Child Care [npr.org]
By Katherine Harmon Courage, National Public Radio, August 21, 2020 Pre-pandemic, about half of U.S. families reported having trouble finding care for a young child. That number jumped to nearly two-thirds this spring as day cares closed and other caretakers, such as grandparents and nannies, were told to stay home. And with many schools operating remotely, in a hybrid model or abruptly changing course this fall, many more parents, including those with kids in elementary school and beyond ,...
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Early Child Care & COVID-19: The Science of Transmission, Safe Practices, Stress and Resilience [ucsf.edu]
From University of California, San Francisco, September 9, 2020 Please join UCSF's Early Success Clinic Collaborative for a panel discussion on "Early Child Care & COVID-19: The Science of Transmission, Safe Practices, Stress and Resilience" on Thursday, September 10th from 6:30-8:30 P.M. This conversation will be focused on translating the science around COVID-19 in preschool and early childhood ages to help inform considerations to keep children, teachers, and caregivers healthy. The...
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Community Trauma Prevention Starts with Parent-Infant Relationships
The COVID-19 pandemic has called on us to find creative ways to connect and learn. In rural western Massachusetts I had scheduled a training for 20 practitioners who work with parents and infants to meet together for two days of learning on April 15 and 16th. Instead I rapidly adapted the training to the online setting. I have had the pleasure of meeting weekly with an extraordinary group that includes peer recovery coaches on the front lines supporting moms with opioid use disorders,...
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Free 2020 Virtual Trauma-Informed Care Conference
Each year, STAR hosts a Trauma-Informed Care Conference to help educate the next generation of leaders and build a strong network of Trauma-Informed professionals in the state of Georgia. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 3rd from 10:00am- 1:00pm EST and Sunday, October 4th , 2020 from 2:00pm-5:00pm EST conducted virtually via Zoom.
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Serving-Up the ACE: Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences ("ACE") in Dependency Adoption Through the Lens of Social Science [mjlr.org]
By Cynthia G. Hawkins and Taylor Scribner, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, October 1, 2020 It is no secret that the foster care system in America is overwhelmed. Children usually enter the foster care system as a result of neglect, abandonment, or abuse. Many of these children spend years or even the rest of their childhood in foster care separated from their parents and often their siblings without ever having a permanent home. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for...
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Introducing Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol
According to leading research, 99% of children entering the foster care system have experienced trauma in their lifetime, and few of those children receive the trauma-informed healthcare they need to recover and prosper. These children are more likely to not only suffer short-term from their trauma, but long term as well. Children who do not receive effective, holistic healthcare experience a lifetime of mental health disorders, substance misuse, and physical illnesses, including diabetes,...
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ACEs Champion: From a movie to a mission — Edwin Weaver's journey to help foster youth graduate from high school
(l to r) Elaine Miller Karas co-developer of CRM; Jim Sporleder, former principal of Walla Walla High School; and Edwin Weaver at the 2018 ACEs Conference & Pediatric Symposium in San Francisco. After watching the late Jamie Redford’s 2015 film, “ Paper Tigers ,” about a Washington state high school where ACEs integration transformed graduation rates, Edwin Weaver knew he had to take action. Weaver is the executive director of Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley , providing social services...
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Partnering with Local Mental Health Providers to Support Foster Youth in College [cccstudentmentalhealth.org]
LAST YEAR, NEARLY 18,000 CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS WERE CURRENTLY OR FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE. These students, and students from other vulnerable or underserved groups, are motivated and resilient. However, many face higher rates of trauma and unmet mental health needs, coupled with systemic barriers that prevent them from accessing services. Without support, these challenges can contribute to lower college completion rates. BACKGROUND In 2018-2020, John Burton Advocates for Youth...
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Santa Clara County is model for plan to give $1000 a month to California foster youth [mercurynews.com]
By Laurence Du Sault, The Mercury News, February 22, 2021 Borrowing from a Santa Clara County program he proposed, state Sen. Dave Cortese has introduced legislation to provide $1,000 monthly cash payments for California’s foster care youth as they leave the child welfare system. “I can’t think of a more urgent time to roll out this kind of assistance,” Cortese said during an online press conference Monday. “Especially as they enter the adult world during an economic decline caused by...
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Helping Youth Prepare for the Transition to Adulthood [fosterclub.com]
Course Summary For teenagers who have been living in foster care, the transition to adulthood presents many new and often daunting experiences. This course provides foster parents with guidance on how to help youth and emerging adults build a foundation for a successful transition to adult life outside of foster care. In this course, you can expect to learn: Unique challenges youth face when exiting foster care Adolescent development and changes in the brain Laws and programs to support...
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The Mental Health Care Crisis Continues One Year Later...Maintaining Emotional Wellness during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Join Dr. Monique Collier Nickles on 4/13/21 for a live discussion related to this post by registering for ChildWIN's free Zoom event at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudu2qrT8oHtDAlFX5xEMUt2o9DC_qaimN?fbclid=IwAR1GdgppIzcIrMO8meIdCqoG5_mpuNz1jUAUbt6FcfKOVI9rg9X5Xh8EHBY The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been stressful and traumatic for many people, particularly our children and adolescents. As we approach the pandemic’s one year anniversary, unfortunately,...
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A Better Normal March 26: Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs): What Happens in Childhood Matters
We at PACEs Connection are particularly interested in the interplay between positive and adverse childhood experiences. Here’s some of the relevant research:
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7 Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE's) that Shape Adult Health and Resiliency – Illustrated [lindsaybraman.com]
By Lindsay Braman, LindsayBraman.com, March 11, 2021 By now, most counselors, pediatricians, teachers, and other people who work with children know about ACES: The “Adverse Childhood Experiences” scale. ACE’s predict , based on measuring the number of traumatic or adverse events experienced, which kids are likely to struggle developmentally and emotionally as they mature. (You can take the ACES quiz here ). New results from a survey based on a study of 6188 adults at Johns Hopkins shows that...
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From Data to Practice: Moving Youth to Family – Level of Need and the Impact on Legal and Relational Permanency (Casey Family Programs)
This report — the third volume of the From Data to Practice series — explores permanency outcomes for youth who, at the time they came into Casey Family Programs’ out-of-home care (OOHC), were not residing with a family member. Family was defined as either biological family, kin or fictive-kin. The target population was 513 youth who entered Casey OOHC between July 1, 2013, and December 31, 2017, and who exited care between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017. The outcomes indicated that...
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6 tips for foster parents preparing for reunification (adoptuskids.org)
The majority of children in foster care are reunified with their birth family, and foster parents must support that outcome. When it can be done safely, reunification is usually in a child’s best interest. But that knowledge does not make it any easier to say goodbye to a child you’ve loved and cared for. In this post, we offer six suggestions for smoothing the transition. [ Click here to continue reading this blog post. ]
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Study Finds Overrepresentation of LGBTQ+ Youth in Midwest Foster Care System
The study outlined here is one of the first of its kind to be conducted in a Midwestern state, where available data on LGBTQ+ youth is extremely limited. It follows similar studies in New York City and Los Angeles showing equally high representation of youth with diverse SOGIE in foster care. Together these studies provide evidence that in the middle of the country, as well as in large urban areas, a greater proportion of LGBTQ+ youth are represented in foster care than in the general...
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Away From Home: An in-depth report on the experiences and perspectives of young people who have recently lived in institutional placements in foster care (Think of Us)
A new report from Think of Us examines the experiences of foster youth who are placed in congregate care placements, such as group homes or residential treatment centers. The report uses stories, art, and other first-person accounts from foster youth to understand their day-to-day lives in these living arrangements. The experiences of these youth offer ideas for improving congregate care placements, and for alternatives to these placements that better support the development and well-being...
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I Will Never Forget That I Could Have Lived With People Who Loved Me (nytimes.com)
By Sixto Cancel, The New York Times, September 16, 2021 When I was 15, an usher at my church offered to become my foster parent. Hers was one of the best foster homes I lived in. But she wanted a son. It was more than I was able to give. I had been in foster care since I was 11 months old because of my mother’s drug addiction and poverty. Adopted at age 9 by a racist and abusive woman, I was locked out of the house at age 13. For two years, I couch surfed with friends, then entered foster...
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An Unavoidable System: The Harms of Family Policing and Parents' Vision for Investing in Community Care
This new report shares the results of a participatory action research (PAR) project that Rise conducted in winter 2021 in partnership with TakeRoot Justice . Our research documents parents’ experiences with the family policing system and explores a collective vision to transform our society’s structures, policies and practices related to family and community support. Imaginative and sometimes painful community conversations with 48 people impacted by ACS provide the foundation of this...
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Introducing a New Course in Supporting Marginalized Students!
Did you know that societal inequities can impact a person's long-term health outcomes? Marginalization is the exclusion of a disadvantaged person or group to the fringe of society. It results in individuals being overlooked when laws, policies, and practices are established that protect the privileged class, and leads to adverse community environments--such as poverty, poor housing, and lack of mobility--that promote fertile ground for structural violence and harm, including racism and...
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What Foster Parents Need To Know About Adopting and Affirming a Queer Child (parents.com)
The key is and will continue to be for foster parents to listen, learn, and practice empathy for kids in the LGBTQ+ community. By Danielle Broadway, Parents, June 03, 2021 Every year, thousands of children in the foster care system struggle to find safe and stable homes with loving adult figures to help them thrive. Many of the children in the system have traumatic experiences that can range from physical and emotional abuse to being forced into criminal activity . They often need foster...
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Treatment foster care model shows promising results (streetroots.com)
An Oregon-developed model of foster care aims for reunification by Libby Dowsett , Street Roots, November 10, 2021 Sharon Annett’s eyes are now wide open to what’s really going on behind closed doors. “I didn’t understand there are people out there mistreating children so badly,” said Sharon Annett. “It’s just horrific the stories you hear about what these little kids have been through.” Sharon Annett is a treatment foster care parent, meaning she and her husband Jim Annett care for children...
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New Study: Evolved Nest Experience In Childhood Buffers The Negative Effects Of ACEs
New Study: Evolved Nest Experience In Childhood Buffers The Negative Effects Of ACEs
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How ‘Shadow’ Foster Care Is Tearing Families Apart (nytimes.com)
By Lizzie Presser, The New York Times, December 1, 2021 When a staph infection killed Molly Cordell’s mother just before Halloween in 2015, Molly felt, almost immediately, as if she were being shoved out of her own life. At 15, she and her sister, Heaven, who was a year younger, had no idea where they would go. Their dad had been in and out of their lives for most of their childhood. His grief, as their mother lay dying, sent him spinning. It seemed to the girls that he was on too much meth,...
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The All-Too-Common Tragedy of Foster Care (nytimes.com)
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...
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Back by Popular Demand! Trauma Informed Care Live Webinar!
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.
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Foster Care Supply Drive delighted by community response
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...
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Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) reports related to youth involved in systems of care
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,...
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Child Care is a Child Welfare Issue: Why Rise Identified Child Care as a Policy Priority (risemagazine.org)
by Keyna Franklin, Rise Magazine, February 15, 2022 Halimah Washington, Rise Community Coordinator, discusses the connection between child care and family policing, how child care supports family safety and well-being and why Rise identified access to child care as a policy priority . Q. Why is the campaign for child care important to you as a parent? A. Universal child care is important to me as a parent because I have children that need child care after school, sometimes before school, and...
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‘If I had access to child care, I wouldn’t have had an ACS case.’ (risemagazine.org)
by Keyna Franklin, Rise Magazine, February 15, 2022 If it was easy to get child care, many families wouldn’t get an ACS case or have to deal with the family policing system, because they wouldn’t have to leave their children at home. If I had access to child care, I never would have become involved with the family policing system. ACS became involved with my family when I left my younger kids with my 14-year-old child watching them when I went out for an appointment. If I knew that this...
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WEBINAR: Strengthening Social-Emotional Wellbeing for Youth in Care
In today's uncertain times, many youth experience housing insecurity, unstable or unsafe relationships, and toxic stress. Social and emotional wellbeing can help these young people overcome adversity, heal from trauma, and build resilience, thereby increasing their hopes for the future. Learning and practicing mindfulness skills can be the pathway to increasing self-regulation, building healthy relationships, and increasing resilience. The question is how can youth move towards social and...
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For Me, Child Care Could Be a Life Saver: ‘I’ve pushed off medical treatment because I don’t have child care, and I don’t want the hospital to call ACS.’ (risemagazine.org)
By Anonymous, Art by Eileen Jimenez, Rise, March 15, 2022 I am a single mom and it is only my son and I living together. That means that unless he is in school or at camp, wherever I go, he goes, too—even when I have to go to the hospital. I have numerous medical problems and when I end up in the hospital, it’s not always during school hours. There are lots of reasons why I would need to bring my son with me to the hospital, such as if I’m having seizures or sudden severe pain, and these...
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Child Care is a Family Policing Issue Handout (Rise)
This new infographic from Rise highlights how universal child care will reduce involvement with the family policing system and strengthen family well-being. It provides an overview of Rise's policy recommendations related to making child care and respite care free and accessible—without family policing system involvement. It also includes data related to issues with child care: child care is too expensive; lack of access to child care is linked to "neglect" reports; and there are not enough...
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Join Ingrid Cockhren to Discuss Adolescents, Attachment, & ACEs Science!
In this webinar the new PACES Connection CEO, Ingrid Cockhren, will explore the connection between adverse childhood experiences, trauma, attachment styles and various types of abuse in dating and romantic relationships. She will examine the systemic nature of trauma and adversity and how early adversity is a root cause of poor relationship outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood. This webinar will also outline systemic solutions for populations that have experienced historical trauma...
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Strategies to Fight Trauma and Stress in Kids [positiveparentingnews.org]
By Positive Parenting Newsfeed contributors: Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Milvionne Chery; Field Producer; Roque Correa, Editor and Videographer , April 8, 2020 Please click here to access the video in English and Spanish. GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire)—It’s a startling number. Nearly half of the kids in the U.S. experience one or more types of childhood trauma by the time they are 17. Trauma can get under the skin and make kids more susceptible to illness. Death…divorce…...
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Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences at the Montana Summer Institute!
This year, in an effort to make this conference more accessible to those working with foster youth and those at risk of entering foster care, The majority of sessions in this conference are based on Title IV-E billable topics. The full agenda is attached with Title IV-E topics highlighted in green.
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Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences at the Montana Summer Institute!
This year, in an effort to make this conference more accessible to those working with foster youth and those at risk of entering foster care, The majority of sessions in this conference are based on Title IV-E billable topics. The full agenda is attached with Title IV-E topics highlighted in green.
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Engaging Fathers Podcast Series from Child Welfare Information Gateway
Child Welfare Information Gateway released a three-part podcast series dedicated to the importance of engaging fathers in child welfare services. The podcasts share strategies implemented in three of the five state or county agencies that participated in the Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare project (Los Angeles County, CA; Hartford, CT; and Prowers County, CO), which aimed to improve placement stability and permanency outcomes for children by engaging their fathers and...
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Building Coregulation Capacity to Support Positive Development for Youth in Foster Care [acf.hhs.gov]
Original article can be found on Children's Bureau Express here . A report from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explores how self-regulation can be applied as a framework for promoting youth health and well-being through coregulation. It reviews which developmental skills and competencies are addressed in the current literature, how coregulation is presented, and what...
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Best Practices Guide for Improving Education Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care [Alliance for Children's Rights]
Original article can be found on Children's Bureau Express here . Youth in foster care continue to have poorer education outcomes compared with their peers. For example, the high school graduation rate in California for youth in foster care is 58 percent while the general population graduation rate is 84 percent. Best Practices Guide for Developing a District System to Improve Education Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care from the Alliance for Children's Rights seeks to build on its Foster...