Tagged With "Super Power"

By Karen Baynes-Dunning, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 31, 2022 I titled this essay Stop Blaming the “Uncooperative Mother,” because it has become a racial trope used by well-intentioned people who work with families throughout our nation’s child welfare system. Over nearly 30 years of working in and around the child welfare system, I have heard variations on this theme: the angry mother; the hostile mother; the disrespectful mother; the antagonistic mother; the aggressive mother;...

Are you looking for ways to support students from marginalized communities, but don't have time to take a class? Then check out our new trainings, created to help you develop a better understanding of your students, and provide supportive strategies grounded in a trauma-informed approach! The series includes a detailed look into the experiences of children from several marginalized communities, and offers techniques designed to help students feel safe, empowered, and able to focus on their...

By the Capacity Building Center for States, Children's Bureau Express, March 2022 "A healing-centered approach to addressing trauma requires a different question that moves beyond 'what happened to you' to 'what's right with you' and views those exposed to trauma as agents in the creation of their own well-being rather than victims of traumatic events."—Dr. Shawn Ginwright (2018) The landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences Study helped us understand the effects of adverse experiences (ACEs)...

CSSP is excited to share our new Youth Thrive Blueprint: Tools and Resources for Putting Youth Thrive into Practice . The Youth Thrive Blueprint is: A practice resource for youth-serving agencies and organizations to advance the well-being of young people—ages 9-26 years. Full of actionable ideas and tools to build young people’s strengths and Protective and Promotive Factors . Developed with a focus on young people in foster care and relevant to other settings such as: afterschool and...

Lyra Walsh Fuchs | DissentMagazine.org Over 630,000 children, who are disproportionately Black and Indigenous, were “served by the foster care system” in 2020, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services. That number doesn’t account for the many families placed under informal supervisory plans, or who received surprise knocks on their doors from caseworkers, often accompanied by police. Dorothy Roberts and a growing number of activists across the country have another...

By Madison Hunt, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco/The Imprint, The Imprint, April 13, 2022 I n a series of social media posts launched today, women cradle their pregnant bellies. They kiss their newborns and lovingly nurse their tiny infants. “Black mamas deserve quality healthcare and unconditional support,” the messages spread by a campaign of New York advocates for low-income parents and families state. “We must make healthcare safe for birthing people at all times.” The coalition behind...

Written by the Capacity Building Center for States "Reconnecting with and strengthening my relationships with family has always been an important part of finding my identity and sense of belonging. However, this power comes with a different set of unexpected challenges. Family events can often be stressful as we struggle with how to treat one another. It is difficult to have healthy relationships because we did not have the opportunity to learn how to do this when we were younger."— Aleks...

By Joanna Lack, Alan Dettlaff, and Kristen Weber, UpEND, April 7, 2022 Language is powerful. The words we use signal how we make sense of the world – and people – around us. When we use the term “people of color,” it signals that we have defined diversity against a standard of Whiteness. When we describe people as “disadvantaged,” we diminish the fullness of their humanity and de-emphasize the unjust systems that shape those words. And when we call a system that surveils, regulates,...

By Cassandra Gonzalez, Rise Magazine, June 15, 2022 Power Dynamics and Systemic Oppression I vividly remember walking into a visit at the foster agency with my girlfriend, bringing clothes for my son. Twice, I corrected a worker who was misgendering my partner, calling her “he” and not “she” because of her attire. I saw LGBTQIA-friendly signs up at the agency. My son was with a foster mother who dressed the same way as my partner—but her gender was said appropriately. It’s hard seeing foster...

Announcing upcoming courses for educators! Join Trauma-informed Education or Supporting Marginalized Students this summer!

This Rise paper was published online in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law Vol. 12, No. 1 (2022) . The expertise and leadership of parents and youth with lived experience of family policing belong at the center of the movement to abolish the system, just as Black folk are centered in Black Lives Matter. Those personally impacted and affected by a system should be the lead and face of advocacy, using their first-hand experience to lead the movement in the direction they choose based on...

Grief is inevitable, essential, and universal. Like many of you, we at PACEs Connection have experienced a multitude of losses through the past several years. As a team, we have experienced financial instability, we have lost family and friends, and we have mourned our pre-Covid lives. We recognize that we are not alone. In the spirit of collective healing, PACEs Connection invites you to attend the Collective Trauma, Grief & Healing Conference. This unique and interactive conference...

In 2020 when I first started working with Coastal Horizons, my co-worker Amy talked about the CRM Trainings she was giving. At that point I was new and wanted to learn more about it so I went to my first 8 hour CRM training. Little did I know this training would become a new way of communicating with the children in my home. See I am a single kinship/foster/adoptive/birth mother to at least four children, all of which have experience a great deal of trauma. At first I started by using the...

When we consider the high numbers of children that are sexually abused it is disappointing how little is out there to support parents in prevention efforts. Although Erin’s Law has brought Sexual Abuse Prevention to many children in the school setting, parents are still often at a loss as to how to talk to their children about this difficult topic. As a therapist who has specialized in treating child sexual abuse for twenty years, I have crossed paths with thousands of children and families...

By Elaine Miller-Karas MSW, LCSW Building Resiliency to Trauma Psychology Today, September 30, 2022 Mental health can suffer after extreme climate events. KEY POINTS Mental health conditions exacerbated by natural disasters include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. After a disaster, the number of people needing assistance from the mental health systems strains or exceeds community capacity. There are simple strategies helpers can use to help survivors restore...

By Shamara Kelly, Rise, October 31, 2022 My biggest fear has always been ACS taking my kids. I have embodied trauma from when I was a child—the system broke me and my siblings apart and took us away from our mom. I wasn’t going to allow that to happen to my two kids. As a parent, I had my share of ACS cases when I was experiencing domestic violence, but because of my childhood experiences, I don’t believe ACS could have helped. ACS actually made things worse for me because caseworkers...

“YES!” was the response of Gaile Osborne, executive director of Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina (FFANC), when asked for input on a new program to help foster and kinship care families learn how to support the brain development of young children. “I love these Brain Insights materials. How soon can we start?” said Osborne upon receiving the "The First 60 Days ” booklet on myths about newborns and their caregivers and the eight “ Neuro-Nurturing ” ringed books. The materials delivered...