Tagged With "Understand What Foster Parents"
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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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2018 All-Star internship is now open.
Interested young people can learn more on the website: All-Star Internship Overview The deadline to apply is February 20th. Eligibility Requirements: 18 to 24 years old at the beginning of the internship Experienced foster care in the United States Permission to travel and a government-issued photo ID Spread the Word!
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2019 Prevention Resource Guide from Children's Bureau
The 2019 Prevention Resource Guide is designed to help individuals and organizations in every community strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. This year's theme, "Strong and Thriving Families," aligns with the 21st National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. The Resource Guide focuses on protective factors that build on family strengths to foster healthy child and youth development. It can be used along with the Protective Factors in Practice scenarios and the activity...
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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
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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6 things you shouldn’t say to, or in front of, your foster/adopted child
Sometimes it’s common sense and sometimes it’s not. Despite that common sense we’ve all supposedly been given, I’ve heard some terrible things said in front of, and to, children. Guidance has also been disposed by some...
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75 Calm Down Strategies for Kids
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
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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8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference- 3/21
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 Call to Action: Hire Older Foster Alumni to Speak [socialjusticesolutions.org]
As it stands , foster and emancipated youth agencies and non-profits that seek a youth perspective hire alumni between the ages of 18 and 24. This standard practice makes sense, given that more states are extending foster care services , they rely on federal money to serve this particular population and people find raw stories from fresh-faced youth emotionally compelling and conductive to their life’s work. What services are working, not working and why? Also, young people are a hypnotic...
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A Community Approach to Trauma Sensitivity / Making a Difference Conference in MA in November
The 6th Annual Making a Difference Conference for SESPs, Foster/Adoptive and Kinship Caregivers and their Professional Partners will be held in Marlborough, MA on November 14, 2017. The theme is A Community Approach to Trauma Sensitivity. There will be at least two talks will be about ACEs! Speakers/Topics: Keynote: Managing the Hearts and Souls of Many, Dana Royster-Buefort, M.Ed., C.A.G.S. Workshops Tackling ACEs by Building Resilient Communities , Renee D Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD . Note:...
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A Federal Thumbs Up for Co-Parenting in Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By John Kelly, The Chronicle of Social Change, May 5, 2020. In 2019 , Nebraska announced plans for a pilot project in which foster parents would play a starring role in the reunification process, going beyond the traditional role of a caregiver for kids. These specialized resource families, through a strategy known as shared or co-parenting, support and mentor birth parents in hopes that children can more quickly and safely be returned home. Just before the coronavirus hit, New York City’s...
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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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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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A New Effort to Bolster Child Welfare Leadership in State Legislatures [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
State legislatures are an ever-changing landscape. Some states cram in a year of policy into short sessions, and the membership is constantly turning over. It can be a tough environment for child welfare issues to find traction, even with widespread concern over increases in foster youth and shortages in foster homes. One national organization is taking a crack at embedding more state houses with legislators poised to take the lead in this arena. The National Conference of State Legislatures...
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A Qualitative Research Study Of Kinship Diversion Practices [ChildTrends.org]
This brief explores the practice of “kinship diversion,” in which children are placed with relatives as an alternative to foster care. Also referred to as informal or voluntary kinship care or safety plans, its use varies across the country. In this brief we present findings from an in-depth review of kinship diversion in one state. Interviews and focus groups revealed common themes among agency caseworkers, kinship caregivers, and court personnel around the reasons for using kinship...
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ACE-Aha Moments & Parenting: Meet Aprel Phelps Downey
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
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
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
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]
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)
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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Advocates Hope NY Court Ruling on Warrants for Foster Youth Leads to Reform [jjie.org]
NEW YORK — Christina Young remembers the day the cops came for her at school. She was 15 years old — a sophomore at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business in lower Manhattan. She and four of her friends were sitting together at a table in the school’s large and chaotic cafeteria. It was lunch time but they weren’t eating. They didn’t like eating lunch at school. They didn’t have a reason why really, they just didn’t like to. Instead they used the time to hang out, and listen to music on...
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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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Age-Related Trends in Psychotropic Medication Use Among Very Young Children in Foster Care
Conclusions Young children who initiated antipsychotic and ADHD medications before the age of six continued to receive them for longer periods of time. There is a critical need for long-term studies to evaluate the effect of chronic...
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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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Alaska Transfers Child Welfare Services for Native Alaskans to Tribes [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
In Alaska , a coalition of tribal governments has now begun to assume responsibility for offering some child welfare services to Alaska Native children. The Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact , which was signed into law in October 2017 by Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I), allows 18 Alaska tribes to provide child welfare services with the goal of reducing the disproportionate number of Native children in foster care in the state. Previously, these services were managed solely through the state’s...
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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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Announcing the Parenting with ACEs Monthly Chat Series!
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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Answering Children's Questions About Foster Care
Recently, a colleague came to me for advice on addressing a very tough question from a child: Why don’t I live with mommy anymore? With roughly 400,000 children in out-of-home placements in the United States, this is a question that gets asked...
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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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Becoming a trauma-informed child welfare agency -- the Waupaca County (WI) journey [NCWWI.org]
In March 2016, Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services shared the events and conditions that created the context and need to move an entire human services agency to a trauma-informed approach to human service practice and administration. Presenters shared the the nine principles of trauma- informed care that Waupaca County DHHS developed. They modeled and demonstrated concrete examples of how these principles were successfully incorporated into the environment and operations...
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Behind the Stats: Mark Courtney on His Newest Study on Transition-Age Foster Youth in California [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Earlier this summer , Mark Courtney and his team at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago released the latest installment in his most recent longitudinal study, the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH). Conducted in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the County Welfare Directors Association of California, CalYOUTH is a five-year research project that examining the impact of California’s implementation of the Fostering Connections to...
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Berkeley Bound [JJIE.org]
If you had asked me at the age of 7 what my meaning of home was, I probably would’ve answered with “I don’t know.” When I turned 7, I was taken from my father and placed into a foster home. I remember my social worker telling me that I was going to a sleepover for a few days. Even though I didn’t know this lady, I believed her. As the strange lady walked me out the front door, I saw tears in my father’s eyes. He told me to be brave and to always remember that he loved me and that no matter...
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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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Better Training for Foster Parents Could Have Changed My Life [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
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]
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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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma
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]
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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Briefing in Support of ACEs Legislation - WATCH LIVE
Tomorrow (July 26), Building Community Resilience will co-host a briefing on childhood trauma-- The Need to Address Childhood Trauma: Implications for Child Welfare and Education-- at the U.S. House of Representatives. Honorary Co-Hosts are Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL-7) and the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus. Featured speakers include Wendy Ellis , Milken Scholar, doctoral candidate and BCR Project Director, Olga Price , Director of the National Center for Health and Health Care in Schools.
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Bringing ACEs, Resilience, and Hope to preschool families
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...