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Tagged With "Foster Parents"

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Eunju Lee's Research on Kinship Care: Informing a Community-based ACE Response

Kelsey Whittington ·
Eunju Lee, assistant professor at the University at Albany, is a leading contributor to a body of research focusing on kinship care. Kinship care occurs when children cannot safely stay in the care of their parents due to child maltreatment, parental substance abuse, parental mental health issues or other reasons. In these cases, relatives, or family friends in some jurisdictions, take over the care of the children. Kinship care is often utilized by child welfare services as a diversion from...
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Everyday coping with moral injury: The perspectives of professionals and parents involved with child protection services

Dawn Cretney ·
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917305285?via%3Dihub This study examines how Child Protection Services (CPS) – involved parents and professionals describe coping with moral injury through resources available within their everyday lives. Moral injury refers to the lasting harm caused by one's own or another's actions in high-stakes situations that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations. This harm can occur at multiple, interacting psychological, social...
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Families in Limbo: Coronavirus Hobbles Reunifications from Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

By Jeremy Loudenback and John Kelly, The Chronicle of Social Change, April 16, 2020 This week was supposed to be a triumphant one for a Northern California mother of two, a 39-year-old home health aide. Soon after a long-scheduled court date at the Sonoma County Hall of Justice this week, she imagined she would soon be able to gather her 1-year-old daughter in her arms at last and end what has been the most terrifying experience of her life: the seven months her toddler has spent in foster...
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Fewer US Children in Foster Care; First Drop Since 2012 [nytimes.com]

By The Associated Press, The New York Times, October 24, 2019 The number of children in the U.S. foster care system has dropped for the first time since 2012, stemming a surge that was linked to substance abuse by parents, according to new federal data released on Thursday. The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services counted 437,283 children in foster care as of Sept. 30, 2018, down from about 441,000 a year earlier. The peak was 524,000 children in foster care in...
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Finding Your People: How Foster Youth Connect [Foster Club]

Karen Clemmer ·
How did you find ‘a community’ through FosterClub, a Youth Advisory Board, or another peer network? Why is it important for young people in foster care to connect with other youth with similar experiences? Share your story, poetry, quotes, photos - or any other creative outlet! OFFICIAL RULES AND GUIDELINES: Any young person up to age 24 who have experienced foster care, including kinship (living with relatives), is eligible to apply. Submissions can take the form of stories, poems, quotes,...
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Flourishing From The Start: What Is It, And How Can It Be Measured? [childtrends.org]

Alissa Copeland ·
This comprehensive research brief discusses the important factors needed to promote child well-being across childhood. Of course, recommendations are grounded in maternal-infant health and relationships, but the recommendations also discuss how to build protective factors across developmental domains and the development of the child. The researchers make many actionable recommendations for both practice and policy, as well as how to obtain ongoing data, and make data collection and...
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Foster Parents Have Become Professionals In Some States [witnessla.com]

Alicia Doktor ·
Foster parents, tasked with the 24-7 care of often-traumatized children, show up for parent-teacher meetings, ferry their charges to doctor’s appointments, supervise homework and serve up cuddles. Many work closely with struggling biological parents in hopes of an eventual reunion. These days, many foster parents are being asked to do even more, as an increasing number of children enter the foster care system with serious behavioral and mental health issues — issues that require a deft hand...
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Foster parents push state to reform system [www.theindychannel.com]

Alissa Copeland ·
Now, more than ever, child welfare reform is a paramount issue of many groups and organizations supporting children and families involved in child welfare systems. Across the country, groups similar to the one described in this piece are pushing their state legislators to re-examine how state and county run child welfare systems are working to serve families. Many groups, similar to this one out of Indiana, are also pushing for reform to include principles of trauma-informed practice.
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Foster Youth Deserve the Right to Speak for Themselves in Court [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
As a youth in foster care, I am used to major decisions about me being made in my absence. Countless times, I was not made aware of my court dates, where my future would be decided. But not being able to participate in court can have a far-reaching impact on foster youth like me. Last year, I tried reaching out to my attorney to find out my court date and to discuss some challenges I had with my case workers. However, he never answered, and attended my hearing without me. I later found out...
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Foster Youth meets Psychiatry: First Do No pHarm

Wayne Munchel ·
When a foster youth encounters a psychiatrist, chances are high that s/he will get medicated. Traumatized foster youth are often prescribed powerful psychotropics due to exhibiting a wide variety of “normal reactions to abnormal events”, such as despair, agitation, anxiety and self-harm. The practice has been well documented; foster children are prescribed psychotropics at a 2.7 to 4.5 times higher rate than non-foster youth [1] . The National Center for Youth Law aptly summarizes the...
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Fostering open house Jan. 19 in Jamestown (New York) [observertoday.com]

Alissa Copeland ·
A foster parent should be someone who wants to make a difference in a child’s life, is flexible and capable of handling challenging situations, understands developmental needs of children, is trauma informed or willing to learn more about trauma, and can support and provide guidance to birth parents. If you've ever been curious about foster parenting and live near Jamestown. NY, or you know somebody who does, you may be interested in attending the open house sponsored by the Chautauqua...
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Free DAILY Support: COVID-19 - Quarantined with Dr. B

Kristin Beasley ·
Hi, I am Kristin Beasley (Dr. B) and have a PhD in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Parent-Child Mental Health (PIMH) and a strong emphasis on Neuropsychology. I am a Professional Keynote Speaker, a Certified iPEC Coach, and an Organizational Trainer. As we face this unprecedented crisis, building community is more important than ever. We are isolated but we are not alone. We must tap into our resilient selves more than ever. Join my FB Live daily, yes, daily at 10AM PST as we...
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From Beauty Salons to Foster Homes, Denise Goodman Explains How to Crack the Recruitment Code [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
Denise Goodman has been trying to figure out how to recruit foster parents for a long time. “I once recruited a foster home for Moses,” she joked in an interview with The Chronicle of Social Change. She’s actually been working in child welfare for more than 40 years, including 32 years understanding the art and science of foster parent recruitment and retention. (She’s also served as a foster parent herself.) Since 1992, she has worked as a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. [For...
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Handouts for parents about ACEs, toxic stress & resilience

Jesus Gaeta ·
Hey everyone, here are some handouts that our founder, Jane Stevens, discovered as she was writing a story about the trauma-in formed elementary schools in Spokane, WA .   We've updated it, and provided three different versions. The text is the...
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He was about to age out of the foster care system. Then an Anchorage woman read a Facebook post that changed their lives. [Anchorage Daily News]

Karen Clemmer ·
In a downtown Anchorage courtroom last Tuesday afternoon, a judge declared Andrea Conter and Mitchell Hershey mother and son. It was an unusual adoption: Hershey was a week away from turning 21, and has been in Alaska’s foster care system for more than half his life. Conter is a 53-year-old bookstore manager who had barely considered motherhood until two years ago, when a Facebook post about a college-aged boy who needed a home changed both of their lives. In the fall of 2017, Conter, who is...
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Helping A Child Whose Parent is Struggling with Addiction [npr.org]

By Kavitha Cardoza, National Public Radio, February 6, 2020 What can you do if you're a teacher, a neighbor, a churchgoer, a coach ... and you suspect a child is being impacted by a parent's addiction? Maybe you're thinking, "I'd love to help but it's not my business." Or "I want to reach out but I don't know much about addiction." Remember that episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, where he tells children to "look for the helpers"? You can be that helper simply by being present for the...
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Helping New Parents Make Room for Uncertainty

Claudia Gold ·
A new program for parents and infants, thanks to generous support from Mill Town Capital , is coming to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The Hello It’s Me Project shines a spotlight on these tender new relationships, investing resources around the birth of a baby with the long-term goal of building a healthy community from the bottom up. When world-renowned child development researcher Dr. Ed Tronick spoke in the spring of 2018 for an audience of a wide variety of practitioners in Berkshire County...
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Helping Youth Transition to Adulthood: Guidance for Foster Parents

Karen Clemmer ·
Please see the attached document to learn more about: The transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency can be challenging for any young person. For teenagers who have been living in foster care, the transition to life outside of care can be daunting. Generally, youth who have experienced foster care do not have the same safety nets and support networks as others their age, and the transition challenges can be even greater.
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High School Suspensions, Multiple Schools Affect Foster Youth as They Enter College [edsource.org]

By Ashley A. Smith, EdSource, January 30, 2020 California foster students who were suspended from school or attended multiple high schools are more likely to struggle in college, according to a new report that examines the academic transition these students undergo. The report released Wednesday, from Educational Results Partnership, a nonprofit research organization, and California College Pathways, a statewide organization that helps foster youth succeed in college, finds these students...
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How Angry Adoptive Moms Are Changing The Game For Vulnerable Children [confessionsofanadoptiveparent.com]

Alissa Copeland ·
You don’t change the world by staying quiet, being nice, or playing by the rules. Just ask adoptive moms. The passion, energy, and voice they have can, and will, change the world for vulnerable children. My husband attended a breakout session for an organization doing crazy awesome things in the world for orphans. This question was asked: “So who made this happen?” Leader’s answer: “It’s usually angry adoptive moms who make things happen.” Ah, yes! Angry Adoptive Moms. That would be me on...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.

Laurie Udesky ·
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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HOWEVER KINDLY INTENTIONED: STRUCTURAL RACISM AND VOLUNTEER CASA PROGRAMS [cunylawreview.org]

Alissa Copeland ·
When we talk about child welfare reform, we shouldn’t shy away from issues of disproportionality and institutionalized oppression, as both are prevalent, present, and deserving of dialogue. One area of conversation I’ve noted of late is with CASA programs. CASA’s are Court Appointed Special Advocates who make recommendations to the court on behalf of the child’s best interest. More often than not, CASA volunteers are well-meaning individuals who give their time to help children. But, many...
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HSC holds symposium on childhood adversity [dailylobo.com]

Alissa Copeland ·
The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center recently held a symposium to generate ideas for the state to address childhood adversity. As reported in this piece, New Mexico ranks 49th in the Nation for child well-being, and many of the ideas generated at this symposium focused on improvements to working with families experiencing adversity. Hsi said he feels the childhood protective system would benefit from “sustaining funding for a decade to see if we can make a difference,” as...
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'I know they are going to die.' This foster father takes in only terminally ill children (latimes.org)

Of the 35,000 children monitored by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, there are about 600 children at any given time who fall under the care of the department’s Medical Case Management Services, which serves those with the most severe medical needs, said Rosella Yousef, an assistant regional administrator for the unit. There is a dire need for foster parents to care for such children. And there is only one person like Bzeek. “If anyone ever calls us and says, ‘This kid...
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InBrief: Relilience Series [developingchild.harvard.edu]

Alissa Copeland ·
This series of videos from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University provide a great resoruce on resilience: 1. InBrief: What is Resilience? 2. InBrief: The Science of Resilience 3. InBreif: How Resilience is Built Reducing the effects of significant adversity on young children’s healthy development is critical to the progress and prosperity of any society. Yet not all children experience lasting harm as a result of adverse early experiences. Some may demonstrate “ resilience...
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Incarceration, Addiction & Homelessness: The Problem with the U.S. Foster Care System

Shenandoah Chefalo ·
I was recently asked to be on the Incarcerate US podcast that is hosted by Dante Nottingham, an inmate who has been locked up since the age of 17. As you may know, incarceration in the US is at extreme levels and touches a wide variety of social issues, topics and dilemmas. At Incarcerate US, they believe that the solutions to our incarceration problems reside within the minds and hearts of the people. So the aim of our Incarcerate U.S. podcast is to interview a wide array of people across...
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2-Yr-Old Girl Finds a New “Mommy”—11 Minutes Later, Her 2 Words Shatter This Mama’s World (faithit.com)

Making the decision to become a foster parent is one that will radically change anyone’s life. It grows your knowledge of the 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, it breaks your heart for what breaks God’s, and opens your eyes, home, heart and world to a child who desperately needs love. But for most foster parents , they’ll tell you that the joy outweighs the heartbreak. Showing a child who may have experienced trauma, or unthinkable situations, what safety, security, love and...
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2017 Kids Count Data Book [aecf.org]

Alissa Copeland ·
Wednesday June 14th the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2017 Kids Count Data Book - State Trends in Child Well-Being. This comprehensive report is " a premier source of data on children and families." You can download the report from this post, as well as on the Kids Count website , where you can also access an interactive data map in their Data Center . This is an invaluable amount of data available to the public, relevant to anyone working with children and families - with the...
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4 New Facts About ACEs Parents Need to Know [yahoo.com]

By Lisa Heffernan, Yahoo Lifestyle, January 24, 2020 Many Americans have at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) before the age of 17. These ACEs include child neglect and emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, household challenges like substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration, parental separation, or divorce, and witnessing intimate partner violence. A collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente San Diego, the original ACE...
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4 years after integrating ACEs science, Pueblo, CO clinic improves services for families; cuts ER costs, doctor stress

Laurie Udesky ·
Four years ago, Dr. Leslie Dempsey would never have talked about ACEs — adverse childhood experiences — with her patients. Now ACEs is a common topic. “Just as I don’t feel awkward asking someone if they smoke or do intravenous drugs, I don’t really feel awkward talking about their childhood traumas in a way that it relates to their health. It’s just integrated into obtaining background and social history,” she says. Dr. Leslie Dempsey Dempsey is a physician in obstetrics who oversees a team...
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75 Calm Down Strategies for Kids

Doty Shepard ·
I came across this webpage and wanted to share with my parent and caregiver small groups. My intern typed it up into a handout. Feel free to share.
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8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference- 3/21

Bonnie Berman ·
Registration is now open for the 8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference! The conference is open to all foster care and transitional aged youth (ages 14-24) in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano or Yolo counties. The conference will provide approximately 150 foster care/kinship and transitioning youth with an opportunity to participate in workshops covering resumes and interviewing, communication, trade demos, hair and barbering, fashion, art and sports. Eligible youth will receive a stipend for...
Blog Post

8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference- 3/21

Bonnie Berman ·
Registration is now open for the 8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference! The conference is open to all foster care and transitional aged youth (ages 14-24) in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano or Yolo counties. The conference will provide approximately 150 foster care/kinship and transitioning youth with an opportunity to participate in workshops covering resumes and interviewing, communication, trade demos, hair and barbering, fashion, art and sports. Eligible youth will receive a stipend for...
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A new bill would allow opioid-addicted parents to get help without losing their children (risemagazine.org)

Thirty-two percent of children entering foster care in 2015 were placed because of parental drug abuse, and states around the country have seen the number of children in foster care rise in ways they haven't seen since crack because of the new drug problem in our country today - opioids. On June 20, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would change the way we deal with drug addiction treatment and recovery. If passed in the Senate, the law would make it easier to keep parent and...
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ACE-Aha Moments & Parenting: Meet Aprel Phelps Downey

Christine Cissy White ·
Aprel Phelps Downey What was your ACEs Aha moment? When did you first hear about ACEs and what impact did/does it have on you? How do ACEs impact you as a parent? How is your parenting impacted by past trauma? What’s been most helpful to you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What’s been most challenging for you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What has parenting taught you? What have you learned? How do you manage complex family relationships? What inspires/encourages and helps you? I know...
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ACEs Research Corner — February 2020

Harise Stein ·
Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs science. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Kambeitz C, Klug MG, Greenmyer J, Popova S, Burd L. Association of adverse childhood experiences and neurodevelopmental disorders in people with fetal alcohol...
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ACEs Research Corner — January 2020

Harise Stein ·
Research papers this month include links between ACEs and bullying, dropping out of high school, adult disability, and the effects of countering ACEs.
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study: Beyond Screening in Pediatrics

Claudia Gold ·
The evidence is clear. When bad things happen to us as young children, we are at significantly increased risk for not only mental health problems, but also a wide range of physical health problems including asthma, heart disease, and even early death. These "bad things" all involve disruptions in caregiving relationships. A national movement directed at screening for ACEs in pediatric practices has emerged from this work. My suggestion that the implication of the Adverse Childhood...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychosocial Well-Being of Women Who Were in Foster Care as Children [the Permanente Journal]

Alissa Copeland ·
Research has shown that many children in foster care later have psychosocial problems as adults; this is often attributed to cumulative adversities and a lack of supportive caregivers. The risk factors associated with foster care, such as maternal separation and multiple placements, often counteract many protective factors that can ameliorate the effects of childhood adversities. This study assessed the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and psychosocial well-being in...
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Advocates for Families First (Enhancing Support and Advocacy for Children in Kinship, Foster and Adoptive Families)

Former Member ·
The mission of  Advocates for Families First  is to build a unified national movement in support of kinship, foster, and adoptive families who care for children and youth, promote their healing, and help them thrive. We envision a world...
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Aging Out Institute: The best Collection of Resources for Aging Out of Foster Care on the Internet

Former Member ·
National Resources Below you will find programs that are not state-specific, but rather can be leveraged regardless of where the foster youth lives in the U.S. Simply click on the name of the program to get to more information about it. A Home Within:...
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Among New Hampshire Foster Parents, Concern Over Movement of Children in Care (socialjusticesolutions.org)

Fostering Change: Alliance for NH Foster Parents has been fielding concerns from foster parents since its inception three months ago. The influx of stories surfacing from concerned foster parents indicates that the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) in New Hampshire is needlessly inflicting trauma on the state’s most vulnerable population by abruptly and unnecessarily moving them to new placements. New Hampshire’s foster parents and concerned citizens are advocating for foster...
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Announcing the Parenting with ACEs Monthly Chat Series!

Christine Cissy White ·
I'm thrilled to announce our NEW Live Chat series!!! Starting in May, once a month, we will have a live Chat Event. It will take online in the Parenting with ACEs Group the second Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). We'll learn from our featured guests (below) about ACE-related issues. We'll have discussions and share experiences, stories, and resources with each other. Here is who and what we have scheduled for 2017. 2017 Monthly Chat Schedule / Time is Always: @ 10 AM PST (1...
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Balancing Adverse Childhood Experiences with Hope [alliance1.org]

Alissa Copeland ·
This report presents evidence for HOPE (Health Outcomes of Positive Experiences) based on newly released, compelling data that reinforce the need to promote positive experiences for children and families in order to foster healthy childhood development despite the adversity common in so many families. These data: Establish a spirit of hope and optimism and make the case that positive experiences have lasting impact on human development and functioning, without ignoring well-documented...
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Better Training for Foster Parents Could Have Changed My Life [chronicleofsocialchange.org]

Alicia Doktor ·
When I was 11 years old, I went to the doctor for a check-up and my whole world stopped. In that one moment, the family I had spent six months becoming a part of decided against adoption. I was removed from my biological mother at just six months, and this was the closest I had ever been to joining a family. One week before a judge made me somebody’s daughter, my almost-parents decided that they did not want “a kid with a baby.” “You’re pregnant!” “What were you thinking?” “There are...
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Beyond Faith: How One Community Raised 70 Kids from the Texas Foster Care System [ChronicleOfSocialChange.org]

Samantha Sangenito ·
Diann Sparks hadn’t planned on adopting, until one of her sisters asked her to attend an adoption class in a town 120 miles away from her home in Possum Trot, part of east Texas’ Shelby County. At the time, Sparks had one biological daughter and was a single parent working a full-time job at a chicken plant. Possum Trot, a deeply religious black Baptist community in a mostly white county, doesn’t show up on Google maps. It has no streetlights, no post office, no grocery store and a lot of...
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Bill aims to create alternative to foster care for struggling families [newschief.com]

Alissa Copeland ·
This sounds like interesting proposed legislation, and certainly in the right direction as far as building community supports for families in need. However, it does seem to need a little more work to ensure accountability of these short term foster families as well as their ability to safely parent the children in their temporary care. TAMPA — One parent losing a job, being admitted to a hospital or struggling with addiction can be difficult for any family. For a single parent, however, it...
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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma

Elizabeth Grady (Guest) ·
The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...
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Brief Aims to Better Understand How Positive Factors Change Child Trauma [socialjusticesolutions.org]

Alissa Copeland ·
According to a leading group of children’s advocates, it’s not enough to just study the impact of childhood trauma and how we can lessen its toll on children and adults later in life. Armed with new data, researchers from Center for the Study of Social Policy, Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Prevent Child Abuse America, Casey Family Programs and the Montana Institute say that positive childhood experiences are more important...
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Bringing ACEs, Resilience, and Hope to preschool families

McKinley McPheeters ·
This school year, an endeavor of the Franklin Pierce Hewins Early Learning Center (ELC) was to bring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience to the preschool families. What began as a broad idea soon turned into an exciting project: “Rise to Resilience & Hope”. Our ELC has had a Kids at Hope culture for many years – believing that all children are capable of success, with no exceptions. With Kids at Hope, the adults are Treasure Hunters, seeking out and recognizing the...
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