Tagged With "November 2022"
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Mississippi Governor Signs Law to Provide Free Tuition to Foster Youth [imprintnews.org]
By The Imprint Staff Reports, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, May 2, 2022 Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed a bill last week that will provide free college and technical school tuition for Mississippi foster youth through a scholarship fund. “We have a responsibility to ensure those children growing up in foster care have the opportunity to turn their struggles into strengths,” Reeves said in a press release. House Bill 1313 will establish the State Representative Bill Kinkade Fostering...
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Register now! Author Bruce Perry to discuss historical trauma and help launch new "Connecting Communities One Book at a Time" book study with his best-seller, "What Happened to You?"
Please join us on June 28 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. ET for a virtual conversation with best-selling author Bruce Perry. Ingrid Cockhren , CEO of PACEs Connection; Mathew Portell , PACEs Connections’ director of communities, and Perry, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, will engage in a conversation concerning historical trauma and Perry’s best-selling book " What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing, " which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. Please share this blog...
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Register now! Author Bruce Perry to discuss historical trauma and help launch new "Connecting Communities One Book at a Time" book study with his best-seller, "What Happened to You?"
Please join us on June 28 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. ET for a virtual conversation with best-selling author Bruce Perry. Ingrid Cockhren , CEO of PACEs Connection; Mathew Portell , PACEs Connections’ director of communities, and Perry, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, will engage in a conversation concerning historical trauma and Perry’s best-selling book " What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing, " which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. Please share this blog...
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Amid Protest, L.A. County Looks to Early Legal Representation for Parents to Avoid Foster Care Removals [imprintnews.org]
By Jeremy Loudenback, Photo: Jeremy Loudenback, The Imprint, May 17, 2022 H oisting signs that read “Fund Families, Not Systems” and “Poverty Is Not Neglect,” protesters in downtown Los Angeles today chanted “Black Families Matter!” and shared their wrenching experiences of family separation through the foster care system. “If you are outraged that the Supreme Court may soon allow the government to reach into your womb and control whether you have children, you should be deeply outraged that...
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The Power of Co-Opting: Language Is Changing, But Will It Change the Status Quo? [upendmovement.org]
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,...
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Trapped in the Web of Family Policing: The Harms of Mandated Reporting and the Need for Parent-Led Approaches to Safe, Thriving Families
By Imani Worthy, Tracy Serdjenian and Jeanette Vega Brown, RISE This article was published in the Spring 2022 Issue of Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly , "Poverty Is Not Abuse...Poverty Is Not Neglect." A family’s contact with the family polic ing system often begins with a call to the child abuse and maltreatment “hotline” made by a mandated reporter. About two-thirds of reports to New York’s Statewide Central Register (SCR) are made by mandated reporters—“ certain professionals...
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National Child Traumatic Stress Network Resources in Response to the Robb Elementary School Shooting
With tremendous gratitude to the TIC (Trauma-Informed Community) Team, I pass along these wonderful resources they have shared from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and other sources. This has been and continues to be a really hard day. Please do what is necessary for your own well-being, so that with renewed hope and energy we can continue our work to create trauma-sensitive communities together. National Child Traumatic Stress Network Resources in Response to the Robb Elementary...
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Ashland, Wayne agencies work to ease trauma for court-involved, fractured families [times-gazette.com]
By Linda Hall, Photo: Tom E. Puskar/Times-Gazette.com, Ashland Times-Gazette, May 26, 2022 When children are placed in foster care , it's understood they are experiencing trauma. What's not always recognized is their parents are in a hard place, too. Ashland County's courts, area social services and other sectors of the Ashland and Wayne communities are hoping to join forces to promote positive parenting and successful reunification of children in foster care with their birth parents.
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Connecticut Codifies Child Welfare Protections for Native American Families in State Law [imprintnews.org]
By The Imprint Staff Reporters, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, June 2, 2022 T he Connecticut governor signed a new law late last month ensuring that federal protections for American Indian families are also enforced in state law — even if a pending U.S. Supreme Court case invalidates the related federal statute. The legislation approved by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) ensures that proceedings involving an Indigenous child’s custody, placement in a foster or adoptive home or termination of parental...
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Alignment Between Early Childhood and Child Welfare Systems Benefits Children and Families [childtrends.org]
By Elizabeth Jordan, Sharon Vandivere, and Esther Gross, Child Trends, June 7, 2022 Both the early childhood and child welfare systems are investing in promising new ways to support families with young children, particularly as they strive to recover from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and strive to become more equitable. Families with young children have faced a set of unique challenges during the pandemic, as already fragile child care centers and family-based child care have...
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‘Sharing My Lived Experience’: A Message of Support and Resources for the LGBTQIA+ Community [risemagazine.org]
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...
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Connecting Communities One Book at a Time launches July 13: Register now to learn from our national and Georgia partners how to lead a book study of 'What Happened To You?'
After more tha n two years of a deadly pandemic, a racial reckoning laying bare gross inequities, historic environmental catastrophes, and record-breaking gun violence and mental health challenges, could the first known national study of “What Happened to You?,” by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey, help us heal our collective trauma, one relationship and community at a time? That’s the question Carey Sipp, PACEs Connection director of strategic partnerships, hopes will be answered with a...
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Summer Course Registration Now Open!
Announcing upcoming courses for educators! Join Trauma-informed Education or Supporting Marginalized Students this summer!
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Introducing PACEs Connection's new resource for children and families displaced by war and violence
Although war, violence, and displacement have occurred as long as humans have engaged in conflict to solve their issues, it was the war in Ukraine that prompted us to create a resource guide for children and families displaced by war and violence. Estimates announced in May 2022 put the number of forcibly displaced people at 100 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) . “The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide rose to 90 million by the end of...
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Connecting Communities One Book at a Time launches July 13: Register now to learn from our national and Georgia partners how to lead a book study of 'What Happened To You?'
After more tha n two years of a deadly pandemic, a racial reckoning laying bare gross inequities, historic environmental catastrophes, and record-breaking gun violence and mental health challenges, could the first known national study of “What Happened to You?,” by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey, help us heal our collective trauma, one relationship and community at a time? That’s the question Carey Sipp, PACEs Connection director of strategic partnerships, hopes will be answered with a...
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In Va. foster care system, making the connections to break cycles of abuse [roanoke.com]
By Alison Graham, Image: Heather Rousseau, The Roanoke Times , The Publication, July 10, 2022 Julia Jones spiraled when social services took her four children away. Her husband had just left her, both of her parents were dead and she felt like she had no one to ask for help. The social workers told her to take parenting classes and go to therapy, and she did. But to her, it seemed like the harder she tried to get her kids back, the farther away they got. So instead, she kept doing what she...
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Too Many Barriers to Child Care: ‘Universal child care would create safety and opportunities for families' [risemagazine.org]
By Melissa Landrau, Rise Magazine, July 11, 2022 When I had an active ACS case, I had homemaking services—this involved a lady coming into my home from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and monitoring my children. I had no privacy. The homemaker would watch and feed my children. If I had to step out, she would accompany me. It was outrageous. I didn’t feel like I was the parent because she did everything for me. I would’ve rather had child care without someone in my home intruding and controlling...
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Investing in Families Prevents Child Welfare Involvement [cssp.org]
To truly take an anti-racist approach to prevention, child welfare and safety net policies must address the organizational structures and injustices contributing to and perpetuating underlying economic and concrete needs of children and families. This brief from the Center for the Study of Social Policy, updated in July 2022, highlights policies that can make a significant impact for children and families when implemented as part of a multi-pronged approach to supporting the needs of...
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Conference Oct. 3-6, 2022: Connecting Change Makers Around the World Working for Justice and Fairness for Children, Youth and Families
Join Us... An Open Invitation to All Desiring Change to What Is Called Child Welfare October 3-6, 2022 The Kempe Center is excited to host the 2022 International Virtual Conference: A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare. We will reconvene and expand the international community of practice with an expected 3000 participants from 20 countries gathering to debate, innovate, and discuss ways to transform child welfare and to re-imagine healthy, restorative, and healing ways of working with...
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A Unique Support Group Helps Parents of Children in Foster Care [imprintnews.org]
By Sara Tiano, The Imprint, August 3, 2022 Parents caught up in the child welfare system have to tell their stories to social worker investigators, lawyers and judges as they fight to keep their families together. But what happens when they share their stories with each other? A nationwide network serving parents who battle mental health challenges, substance abuse disorders and domestic violence shows regular participation in a support group may make all the difference. The groups are run...
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The Secret History of Family Separation [theatlantic.com]
By Caitlin Dickerson, Illustration: The Atlantic, The Atlantic, August 7, 2022 As a therapist for children who are being processed through the American immigration system, Cynthia Quintana has a routine that she repeats each time she meets a new patient in her office in Grand Rapids, Michigan: She calls the parents or closest relatives to let them know the child is safe and well cared for, and provides 24-hour contact information. This process usually plays out within hours of when the...
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From Trauma to Resiliency: Trauma-Informed Practices for Working with Children, Families, Schools, and Communities (Routledge Textbook)
(Congratulations to Dr. Audrey Hokoda and Dr. Shulamit Ritblatt for their steadfast dedication as Editors of this textbook. Long-standing San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team (SDTIGT) member, there are more SDTIGT members who are co-authors. Congratulations to all contributors!) From Trauma to Resiliency: Trauma-Informed Practices for Working with Children, Families, Schools, and Communities Edited by Shulamit Natan Ritblatt, San Diego State University, California, USA and Audrey Hokoda ,...
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New LGBTQ Youth and Family Resources: Culturally-relevant information supports parents in caring for LGBTQ children and youth [risemagazine.org]
By Keyna Franklin and Shakira Paige, Rise Magazine, August 5, 2022 Parents need resources to support LGBTQ children and youth in being affirmed, safe and celebrated in their homes, schools and communities. In our report, An Unavoidable System , Rise recommends expanding access to community-based programs that center the needs of families with LGBTQ children — without family policing system involvement. Here, Rise talks with Caitlin Ryan , Director of the Family Acceptance Project at the...
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Youth leaving foster care, juvenile and other systems are aim of Washington housing effort [jjie.org]
By Joy Borkholder, Illustration: Kelly Flynn/Crosscut, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, August 22, 2022 Sitting in her sunny studio apartment in Spokane’s South Hill neighborhood, surrounded by homes she describes as “out of a Pixar movie,” Williams, a 20-year-old junior college student, reflected on her accomplishments and challenges. She’d spent several of her middle school years in foster homes, as her mom struggled with addiction and mental health, sometimes locking herself inside...
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Centering Parent Leadership in the Movement to Abolish Family Policing [journals.library.columbia.edu]
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...
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How We Can Help Children Grow in the Wake of a Crisis [nytimes.com]
By Anya Kamenetz, Illustration Monica Garwood/The New York Times, The New York Times, August 22, 2022 A few years ago, people thought American kids had it way too easy. Best-selling books and articles lamented “the coddling of the American mind” and shamed “ snowplow parents ” who removed every obstacle their children encountered. Parents were scolded, told that they should allow their kids to develop “ grit ” by giving them “ the gift of failure .” (If a child leaves their term paper at...
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National Federation of Families 2022 Conference: Families Can't Wait (Nov. 3-5, 2022)
The only national conference dedicated solely to supporting families whose children - of any age - experience mental health and or substance use challenges during their lifetime. Did you know that 1 in 5 children in America experiences social, emotional and behavioral and/or substance use challenges? One undisputed constant in our society is that all children who survive childhood and adolescence will become adults. For children and youth who experience untreated behavioral health and...
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Register now! Oct. 12, 2022—Connecting Communities One Book at a Time webinar with Donna Jackson Nakazawa on “Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media”
October 12, 2022, from 3-4:30 p.m. ET Register now! Meet longtime friend of PACEs Connection and award-winning author, science journalist, and international speaker Donna Jackson Nakazawa as she shares insights and findings from her newest book, “ Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media ”. Her seven books explore the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion, and are in 12 languages. Register now to join...
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Healthy Blue pilots innovative collaboration to improve health of foster care community in six NC PACEs Connection “Coop” communities
For the last eight months the Medicaid plan provider has engaged community resiliency-building experts and organizers to help children, families, and caseworkers in the state’s foster care program to boost resilience and better manage stress. The innovative project is called the Healthy Blue Initiative . “We all know kids in foster care have higher rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) than most children. They are often in foster care due to loss of a parent from death, illness —...
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Healthy Blue pilots innovative collaboration to improve health of foster care community in six NC PACEs Connection “Coop” communities
For the last eight months the Medicaid plan provider has engaged community resiliency-building experts and organizers to help children, families, and caseworkers in the state’s foster care program to boost resilience and better manage stress. The innovative project is called the Healthy Blue Initiative . “We all know kids in foster care have higher rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) than most children. They are often in foster care due to loss of a parent from death, illness —...
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‘Girls on the Brink’ — next choice for upcoming PACEs Connection book study – available in “indie bookstores” for a discount!
“Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media”, published today, is available at a pre-launch discount of up to $1.96 (from the $28 cover price to $26.04) via independent bookstores . The book is the seventh by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, acclaimed author, science journalist, international speaker and longtime friend of PACEs Connection. Jackson will join PACEs Connection for our second “Connecting Communities One Book at a Time”...
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PACEs Connection's Collective Grief, Collective Healing Conference Nov. 1 - 3, 2022
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...
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The True Power of Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Skills for Foster Youth/Families
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...
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Oklahoma Is Prosecuting Pregnant Women for Using Medical Marijuana [themarshallproject.org]
By Brianna Bailey, Photograph: Brianna Bailey/The Frontier, The Marshall Project, September 13, 2022 Two district attorneys have targeted mothers with child neglect felonies. NEWKIRK, OKLA. — Early in her pregnancy, Amanda Aguilar struggled with severe nausea that sometimes made it hard to eat. A doctor had previously approved a medical marijuana license for her, so she used pot to ease her morning sickness. Aguilar, 33, said she stopped using marijuana after her third month of pregnancy and...
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Register NOW for Flourishing Families, Centering Justice: Policy solutions for prevention-focused, trauma-informed supports for children and families on 11/1
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to join us for a discussion on Flourishing Families, Centering Justice: Policy Solutions for Prevention-focused, Trauma-informed Supports for Children and Families . This webinar will explore trauma-informed primary, secondary, and tertiary approaches to supporting struggling families and keeping them together. Our expert panelists will: Reframe our understanding of neglect Provide a brief overview of historical and...
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‘This job is impossible’: High turnover, low morale plague Missouri child welfare agency [missouriindependent.com]
By Clara Bates, Missouri Independent, September 19, 2022 More than half the frontline staff working in the Children’s Division at the start of the last fiscal year left by the end of the year. Some who remain take second jobs or sell plasma to make ends meet. It’s a situation advocates warn puts Missouri’s most vulnerable children at risk. Eighty open cases of child abuse and neglect sat on Matt Cordova’s desk in 2017 during the height of the “hole I found myself buried in,” he remembers.
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Successful launch of our first Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative: “What Happened to You?”
PACEs Connection is thrilled to share that our first-ever Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative involved thousands of people; scores of book studies! The PACEs Connection's Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative helps people bring their community together around books that help us have critical conversations about trauma, racism, inequity, protective factors, positive childhood experiences, and the role community plays in preventing and healing trauma and...
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Inside Massachusetts’ Family Separation Disaster [motherjones.com]
By Julia Lurie, Mother Jones, September 26, 2022 When Bryan Hickson and Patricia Soto found out they were going to have a baby, the thrilled couple jumped into action. They watched YouTube videos about parenting, prepared healthy meals, and, since they planned to stay in their separate places to start, bought cribs and baby clothes for each of their homes. When Soto went in for ultrasounds, Hickson FaceTimed in from the warehouse where he works as a supervisor. When Soto went into labor, he...
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How to Help Survivors of Extreme Climate Events (psychologytoday.com)
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...
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Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline Using a Trauma-Informed Lens
Event Title: Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline Using a Trauma Informed Lens Event Date: Wednesday, October 19th, 2022 Event Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PST Event Facilitators: Porter Jennings-McGarity & Lara Kain Special Guest: Tia Martinez Join PACEs Connection’s trauma-informed education consultant (Lara Kain) and trauma-informed criminal justice consultant (Dr. Porter Jennings-McGarity) and special guest Tia Martinez for our first ever interdisciplinary collaborative event...
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Register NOW for Flourishing Families, Centering Justice: Policy solutions for prevention-focused, trauma-informed supports for children and families on 11/1
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to join us for a discussion on Flourishing Families, Centering Justice: Policy Solutions for Prevention-focused, Trauma-informed Supports for Children and Families . This webinar will explore trauma-informed primary, secondary, and tertiary approaches to supporting struggling families and keeping them together. Our expert panelists will: Reframe our understanding of neglect Provide a brief overview of historical and...
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Register now! Oct. 12, 2022—Connecting Communities One Book at a Time webinar with Donna Jackson Nakazawa on “Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media”
October 12, 2022, from 3-4:30 p.m. ET Register now! Meet longtime friend of PACEs Connection and award-winning author, science journalist, and international speaker Donna Jackson Nakazawa as she shares insights and findings from her newest book, “ Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media ”. Her seven books explore the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion, and are in 12 languages. Register now to join...
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Freedom to Dream: A Future without Family Policing (How We endUP 2022 Convening) October 17-18
The How We endUP Convening is a two-day virtual gathering of advocates, activists, researchers, policymakers, and leaders from different communities, agencies, and efforts coming together to explore how we can move toward abolition of family policing--how we can dismantle harmful, racist systems and build different ways of caring for one another. Featured speakers are Angela Davis, Joyce McMillan, and Mariame Kaba. Join in discussions that expose racism in how families are surveilled and...
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Spotlight on Youth Homelessness from Children's Bureau Express
The October 2022 issue of Children's Bureau Express (CBX) features resources related to the issue of youth homelessness and ways to mitigate the challenges children and youth involved with child welfare face during times of financial insecurity. Read a message from Associate Commissioner Aysha E. Schomburg about the importance of practicing positivity when engaging with children and youth and how the Lakota tribe implements this principle of being acutely mindful of the language they use...
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Mandatory Reporting Was Supposed to Stop Severe Child Abuse. It Punishes Poor Families Instead. [propublica.org]
by Mike Hixenbaugh and Suzy Khimm , NBC News, and Agnel Philip, ProPublica, October 12, 2022 After the Sandusky child abuse scandal rocked Pennsylvania, the state required more professionals to report suspected child abuse. That led to a strained child welfare system and more unsubstantiated reports against low-income families. More than a decade before the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal broke, an assistant football coach told his supervisors that he had seen Jerry Sandusky...
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Can ‘Kinship Care’ Help the Child Welfare System? The White House Wants to Try. [nytimes.com]
By Erica L. Green, Photo by Chet Strange for the New York Times, The New York Times, October 13, 2022 The Biden administration proposes spending $20 billion over a decade to help some of the most vulnerable families in the country, including relatives suddenly thrust into child rearing. WASHINGTON — Maria Elena Thomas and her husband were ready for a simpler life after they retired in 2015, sold their home in Colorado and settled on the southeastern coast of Spain. “People would ask, ‘When...
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National Family Caregivers Month: Caring for the Caregivers Virtual Summit 2022 Getting UNStuck: Moving From Languishing to Flourishing
Courage to Caregivers will host its third annual Caring for Caregivers Virtual Summit on Wednesday, November 16, and Thursday, November 17, 2022, from 9 am to 12:30 pm ET as part of National Family Caregivers Month. This year’s theme is Getting UNStuck: Moving From Languishing to Flourishing. The event is free for licensed professional caregivers and anyone providing care to a loved one with mental illness. All are welcome to attend one or both days. CEUs are provided for Ohio professionals.