Tagged With "justice system"
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HSC holds symposium on childhood adversity [dailylobo.com]
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've Always Been a Lioness When It Comes to My Children': Stories From Inside the Child Welfare System (www.jezebel.com)
Cissy's note: This has been an exceptional series. Here's more about the entire series and an excerpt from the most recent essay. In collaboration with Rise magazine , Jezebel is publishing a series of articles written by parents affected by the child welfare system. This post, the third in the series, features narratives by LaQuana Chapelle and Lashonda Murray, two mothers who themselves grew up in foster care. In New York City, an estimated 25 to 40 percent of mothers with children in...
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Ideas for Recruiting Foster Parents
Although this article is written about a California child welfare system, its trauma informed recommendations are applicable across states. See Ideas for Recruiting Foster Parents to hear from a leading dependency expert, Jan Sherwood of Advokids, on things to consider to recruit and retain foster families who can help prevent additional trauma to children who usually enter the child welfare system with multiple ACEs.
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In 2017, the rate of children in foster care rose in 39 states (childtrends.org)
The number of children and youth in foster care nationally rose for the fifth consecutive year, to 443,000, in federal fiscal year (FY) 2017. While still below the high of 567,000 in FY 1999 , the FY 2017 number is a 1.5 percent increase from FY 2016 and a 12 percent increase from FY 2012, when the number of children and youth in care began rising after more than 10 years of decline. At the state level, Child Trends’ analysis of the newly released Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting...
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In 2017, the rate of children in foster care rose in 39 states [childtrends.org]
The number of children and youth in foster care nationally rose for the fifth consecutive year, to 443,000, in federal fiscal year (FY) 2017. While still below the high of 567,000 in FY 1999 , the FY 2017 number is a 1.5 percent increase from FY 2016 and a 12 percent increase from FY 2012, when the number of children and youth in care began rising after more than 10 years of decline. At the state level, Child Trends’ analysis of the newly released Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting...
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In College, Former Foster Kids Pay it Forward [nationswell.com]
Bria Davis didn’t have the easiest time growing up. Her mother suffered from schizophrenia and her father wasn’t around. As a result, she was placed into the foster-care system, which meant changing schools every year. “Coming out of high school, I never was in a stable place,” Davis says. Davis’ freshman year at Miami Dade College in Florida was challenging, and she eventually sought help. Now a well-acclimated sophomore, Davis decided she was in a unique position to give back. So she...
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Incarceration, Addiction & Homelessness: The Problem with the U.S. Foster Care System
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]
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 years after integrating ACEs science, Pueblo, CO clinic improves services for families; cuts ER costs, doctor stress
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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6 problems with the foster care system — and what you can do to help [mashable.com]
When Tenaja Jordan came out to her parents at 17 years old, they kicked her out of their home. As a teenager, she was still considered a child in the eyes of the state, and was immediately placed into New York City's child welfare system. Following the trauma of the situation, one question remained on Jordan's mind: Where was she going to live? Jordan made her needs clear to child welfare workers: She didn't want to live on Staten Island or with a homophobic guardian. But that's exactly...
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A Conversation with Nadine Burke Harris: How Should Pediatricians Address Childhood Adversity?
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is a masterful storyteller. I learned in a conversation with her at Wheelock College before her presentation for the Brookline, MA organization Steps to Success , that before she decided to become doctor, Dr. Burke Harris wanted to be an author. Only after the smashing success of her TED talk: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime , when she was approached by a literary agent, did she find her way to writing. Her newly released book The...
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A Hidden Crisis: The Pipeline from Foster Care to Homelessness for LGBTQ Youth [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
This article points out the inequity of the foster care system in meeting the needs of LGBTQ youth, especially LGBTQ youth of color - all of whom often experience trauma as a result of rejection from their primary caregivers, both biological parents and foster parents. It's true, child welfare systems across the country are under-funded, staff are over-worked, and there is a troubling shortage of foster parents in general, and even more so when speaking of foster parents willing to foster...
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ACEs Research Corner — February 2020
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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Across the Country, Diverging Policies for LGBTQ Youth in Child Welfare System [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
The ways in which states and their respective child welfare agencies support LGBTQ youth varies greatly, according to a state-by-state analysis and map of child welfare systems’ policies from Lambda Legal . Some state agencies have explicit safeguards that protect youth from discrimination on the basis of sex or gender, while other states have none at all, according to the national organization that works to promote the civil rights of the LGBTQ community. The issue has grabbed attention...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychosocial Well-Being of Women Who Were in Foster Care as Children [the Permanente Journal]
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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After 20 Years, California Man Leaves Foster Care on His Own Terms [KQED.org]
When Noel Anaya was just 1 year old, he and his five brothers and sisters were placed in the California foster care system. He has spent nearly all of his life in that system and has just turned 21. In California, that’s the age when people in foster care “age out” of the system and lose the benefits the system provides. That process becomes official at a final court hearing. Anaya, along with Youth Radio, got rare permission to record the proceeding, where he read a letter he wrote about...
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AG Kamala D. Harris Seeks to Better Serve Foster Youth [sdvoice.info]
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues New Guidelines to Encourage Secure Sharing of Information Between Schools and Child Welfare Agencies to Better Serve Foster Youth Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Children’s Justice (BCJ), the California Department of Education (CDE), and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) have jointly developed statewide guidelines for school districts, county offices of...
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Aging Out Institute: The best Collection of Resources for Aging Out of Foster Care on the Internet
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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An Invitation to Remake Child Welfare [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
A few days before Christmas , the federal government extended an invitation to state child welfare agencies that has the potential to completely transform the system. The invitation did not arrive with great publicity. Nor was it lengthy. Instead, it was announced in a few ordinary-looking sentences, in a very ordinary-looking email. But looks can be deceiving. The change announced by the federal government could lead to far fewer children being placed in foster care. It could expedite the...
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Answering the call for Texas' children [www.tribtalk.org]
If you follow child welfare news at all, you know Texas has been overhauling and prioritizing changes to their foster care system. As the Texas Legislature grapples with how to fund child welfare, they are considering statewide performance-based contracting for the child welfare provider network, which serves the majority of children placed in Texas foster care. Two new bills will include provisions to strengthen the Texas child welfare system, as well as focus on trauma-informed care and...
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Articles
78 Children Missing From State Custody Link: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com...2d7a5a.html?mode=jqm Aging Out of Foster Care: The Costs of Doing Nothing Affect Us All Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...care-_b_3658694.html Applied...
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Balancing Adverse Childhood Experiences with Hope [alliance1.org]
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 Child Abuse Fatality Reviews are Key to Overhauling Child Welfare [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Theresa Covington and Ilana Levinson, August 15, 2019 The Family First and Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), which passed into law as part of the 2018 budget resolution, is one of the largest overhauls of our nation’s child welfare system in the last decade. The law aims to realign resources toward prevention and intervention before a child reaches the critical point of being placed into the foster care system. Most of the attention on the new law is focused on new ways to use Title IV-E...
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Beyond Faith: How One Community Raised 70 Kids from the Texas Foster Care System [ChronicleOfSocialChange.org]
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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Big wins for kids caught in foster care crisis [crosscut.com]
Months ago we shared the report from Washington State's Blue Ribbon Commission recommending the creation of a new state agency consolidating child welfare, early learning, and juvenile justice. The report recommends many changes in both internal organization and delivery of services to children and families. Many of these recommendations are informed by ACE science - both emerging and established best practices in child welfare, early learning and work with children and families. Washington...
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Bill aims to create alternative to foster care for struggling families [newschief.com]
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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Brief Aims to Better Understand How Positive Factors Change Child Trauma [socialjusticesolutions.org]
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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Building a Child Welfare System for the 21st Century [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
The Family First Prevention Services Act , which was signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act on February 9, 2018, offers an historic opportunity for child welfare leaders to re-imagine a child welfare system for the 21 st century. By placing an emphasis on prevention, early intervention and evidence-based practices for children and families, this groundbreaking legislation is requiring child welfare providers to rethink the policies, practices and systems of yesterday and...
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Perfecting Permanency: What’s Being Done to Improve Adoptions and Guardianships [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
One of the most important and sometimes underappreciated challenges facing the child welfare system in the 21st century is addressing the unique needs of families formed through adoption or guardianship. Between 2000 and 2015 there has been an influx of children in adoptive homes. The growth in adoptive and guardianship homes has led to a heightened awareness of the complex needs families can encounter at any point after permanence has been achieved. Many of the direct challenges stem from...
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Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain - FREE Screening for ACEs Connection Network!
I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...
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Pregnant Behind Bars: What We Do And Don't Know About Pregnancy And Incarceration [NPR]
There are 111,616 incarcerated women in the United States, a 7-fold increase since 1980. Some of these women are pregnant, but amid reports of women giving birth in their cells or shackled to hospital beds , prison and public health officials have no hard data on how many incarcerated women are pregnant, or on the outcomes of those pregnancies. A study published in The American Journal of Public Health Thursday changes that. The study included 57 percent of the US prison population (New...
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Preventing Further Traumatization of Foster Children: ADVOKIDS
Foster children typically enter child welfare as the result of numerous ACEs. Unfortunately, being part of the system can cause even more trauma. California child welfare laws require putting the best interests and the wellbeing of a child first, and yet dependency courts often do not have all the information they need to make trauma informed decisions. Advokids, a California nonprofit, works to ensure that foster parents, clinicians, pediatricians, child advocates and many others have the...
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Programs & Organizations
Camellia Network A support network for children aging out of the foster care system. Link: https://www.camellianetwork.org/ Faine House provides safety and security to teens who have aged out of foster care – Florida Link:...
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Proposed bill would require more training for foster parents in Arizona [abc15.com]
Advocates for Arizona's House Bill 2476 are hopeful it will be read in the Senate by today. This legislation would put in place additional trauma-based training for foster parents.. "You can't parent [a child exposed to trauma] the way that you parent your biological kids..." Just as child welfare social workers deserve training and opportunities for professional development to ensure they are able to serve children and families to the best of their ability, foster parents also deserve...
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Providers Hope Trauma Legislation Will Help Native Children in Foster Care [ChornicleOfSocialChange.org]
Recent federal legislation put forward by senators Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) proposes to address the issue of childhood trauma through the creation of a federal trauma task force. The Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act would gather federal officials and members of tribal agencies to create a set of best practices and training to help create a better way to identify and support children and families that have experienced trauma. In...
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Rebuilding Lives while Building Homes: Tony McGuire's Resilience-Building Carpentry Class
Tony McGuire is a great carpenter. He ran his own construction business for years. Then he wanted to get into teaching. He became a Tenured Faculty member at a local community college, and landed in the state penitentiary as a Basic Skills Carpentry instructor. So how could that be connected to saving lives with a 20 buck investment? Tony got touched by CRI’s trauma-informed training. He saw himself past and present and knew somehow that, “with this information comes the responsibility to...
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Reimbursement for Parenting Education and Support Services
Unfortunately, regardless of training received and degrees earned, parenting educators can't serve families and get reimbursed by public and private insurers for their services. In an effort to bring light to this issue, I wrote the attached paper with two colleagues at NC State. Our (unpublished) paper outlines research supporting parenting education services and their efficacy to improve individual and family health and long term wellbeing and community prosperity. We highlight the fact...
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Report Looks for Ways to Better Engage Young Fathers in the Child Welfare System [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
When fathers are involved with their children, a strong base of research shows that there are considerable benefits to the health and well-being of children, mothers and even the fathers themselves. The issue of engaging fathers has been the focal point for federal efforts like the Responsible Fatherhood Grants and the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse. But in the effort to emphasize the importance of paternal parenting, young fathers and those who are involved with the child...
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Reporters reveal deep faults in Arizona’s swollen foster care system [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
When Arizona’s foster care system swelled to an all-time-high of over 19,000 children in 2016, the reason should have been obvious to the state’s lawmakers. It certainly wasn’t because thousands of residents were suddenly abusing and neglecting their children, but Arizona approached the problem with that mentality. As a result, thousands of children were taken from their families when in-home services and support would have sufficed. Here’s what was actually happening: Since the Great...
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Resource List -- Advocacy
This is a list of organizations that advocate for foster children.
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Resources for Professionals
Adoption Information & Resources Resources on all aspects of domestic and intercountry adoption, with a focus onadoption from the U.S. foster care system. Includes information for adoption professionals, adopted adults, expectant parents considering adoption, birth parents and relatives, and prospective and adoptive parents on a broad range ofadoption topics. Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). Link: https://www.childwelfare.gov/t...?hasBeenRedirected=1 ...
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Sand Diego County's Answer to School Stability for Students in Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
It seems obvious that keeping kids in their home school with their peer group – a concept known as “school stability”– is a key ingredient in the recipe for academic success for students in foster care. Research shows that on average, children lose four to six months of learning each time they change schools. This is especially acute for high school students, who run into issues obtaining the credits they need to graduate or may have to re-take classes due to coursework alignment issues. For...
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Select Adoption Statistics for Kids in Foster Care [AECF.org]
In recognition of National Foster Care Month, the KIDS COUNT Data Center is highlighting key child welfare data on the site. In 2015, nearly 112,000 kids were in foster care waiting to be adopted. For these children, we know that: Twenty-four percent lived in California or Texas. Twenty-eight percent had been waiting at least three years to be adopted. Kids in Illinois had the longest road to adoption, with nearly one in three waiting at least five years. In 2015, about 53,500 kids in...
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Self Soothing Strategies for Parents and Kids
Learn 4 simple tools for parents and kids to calm down together. About the presenter: Joyelle Brandt is a self care coach for moms. She specializes in working with mothers who are survivors of abuse, to help them develop a personalized self soothing toolkit for stress management. As a speaker, mothering coach, and multi-media creator, Joyelle works to dismantle the stigma that keeps childhood abuse survivors stuck in shame and self-hatred. She is the author of Princess Monsters from A to Z...
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Self-Taught Techie Designs App to Get At-Risk Kids into Preschool [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Steve Sturm believes every child should have the same opportunities that his 3-year-old daughter Reagan enjoys. Things like new boots, trips to the trampoline park — and preschool. But for children known to the foster care system, too many miss out on the earliest years of their education. “There wasn’t any real focus on early ed. It was kind of an afterthought,” said Sturm, who works with the education unit at L.A.’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the biggest child...
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Shaping Tomorrow With Today’s Minds: Applying Updated Solutions to an Outdated System
In this report from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s 2014 Foster Youth Internship, former foster youth share their personal experiences and creative federal policy recommendations that address a range of...