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Unheralded Good News:
Share of Black Children Being Raised by 2 Parents Rising 👇🏼https://t.co/93PNl7RxhO pic.twitter.com/ujiOq0c1PS— Brad Wilcox (@BradWilcoxIFS) June 27, 2021
3.
Such an important article that applies equally to foster youth, some of whom need larger residential facilities to recover from trauma and prepare to thrive in more homelike settings. When It Comes to People Like My Daughter, One Size Does Not Fit All https://t.co/WDVMdJgUWU
— Marie Cohen (@childwelmonitor) July 5, 2021
5. As evidence of agonizing injuries piles up, DCF still won’t say boy died of abuse or neglect
6. Associated Press: Families fostering migrant kids offer what shelters cannot
Chris Umphlett and his family worked in small ways to help the 12-year-old girl from Honduras — who barely uttered a word when she arrived after crossing the Mexican border alone — feel comfortable in their Michigan home.
The couple and their four young children who live in the city of East Lansing invited her on walks and bike rides, and watched Disney movies with Spanish subtitles. A Honduran woman from their church made a home-cooked Honduran meal of meat and red beans and tres leches cake, which got a smile.
Transitional foster homes, where families are licensed to care for migrant children, are widely considered to be the best option for kids in U.S. custody, especially for minors who have been traumatized, are very young, pregnant or are teen parents and require extra emotional support.
7.
When you know nothing about adoption and the child welfare system, you can say cute things like this. https://t.co/SnaUMopFuN
— Malka M. Groden (@MalkaGroden) July 1, 2021
8. Abortion activists create children’s abortion book
The book will be available to young children by fall 2021. Described as a “nonjudgmental book about abortion for children,” the creators say they “believe in building a world for kids and adults where abortion is normalized as another outcome of pregnancy just like miscarriage and birth.”
9. It’s Time Children Finally Got Back to Normal Life
Children should return to their normal lives this summer and in the upcoming school year, without masks and regardless of their vaccination status.
Overall, the risk to children is too low to justify the remaining restrictions they face. Somewhere between 0.1 and 1.9 percent of covid-19 infections in children result in hospitalizations — and that’s likely an overestimate given that recent studies suggest approximately 40 percent of pediatric covid-19 admissions were misclassified.
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Girls in foster care experience loneliness, low self-esteem, and fear. They are 2x as likely to become pregnant before age 19 and are high risk for human trafficking.
Could you provide belonging? Inquire today!#IBelongProject #Belong #teenagegirls #fostertoadopt #Belongby18 pic.twitter.com/9Eno8Rwv4S
— VAKidsBelong (@vakidsbelong) July 19, 2021
11. Naomi Schaefer-Riley: Put Kids’ Interests First
In many cases, the bond with foster parents is not strong, or other factors take precedence. But the number of cases in which young kids have remained in a single foster home for more than two years (and in some cases more than four years) is surprisingly large. It might seem strange that the bond between children and foster parents would not be considered by a judge—why would he or she not want this information? It only seems strange, though, if you think of the child-welfare system as serving the interests of children. Instead, it has become a system that primarily serves adults. …
Tom believes the state is interested in two things: money and reputation. “They care about how the agency looks on paper,” he says. “We saved this many millions of dollars and reunified this many kids. What that graph isn’t telling you is this kid is f—ed.
12. Teen accepted to Harvard after spending time in foster care
Kelisha Williams was not only one of the 2,000 high school seniors accepted this year, but she also received a full-ride scholarship.
13. Change in language of Oklahoma bill has positive impact on foster care youth
14. Become a certified babysitter for foster care families, so they don’t burn out
“Fifty percent of foster families drop out in the first year because they can’t take a break,” said Sandi Jarzombek, a former foster mom and current certified babysitter.
She said community members can volunteer to cook meals for families, pick up groceries, help with laundry, donate diapers, mow their lawns, or even become drivers to get the children to their many parental visits and doctors or counseling appointments.
15. Normalcy for children in foster care helps heal trauma