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By Anton C. Bizzell, Photo: Unsplash, Psychology Today, January 26, 2022 The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on individuals and groups around the world, from frontline health care professionals to service workers to the elderly to entire families decimated by the virus. However, there is a large, traumatized cohort that requires more attention : our youth. How do we help young people cope with the upheaval in their lives due to the coronavirus , on top of the many other traumas...

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;...

February 4th, 2022 - 1pm-5pm ET/10am-2pm PT - Building the Movement in the Child Welfare and Justice Systems Making these sectors trauma-informed, prevention-focused, and healing-centered You’re invited to participate in the third of eight remarkable workshops featured in the series, “Building a National Movement to Prevent Trauma and Foster Resilience”. This half-day workshop will occur virtually and focus on promising practices in the child welfare and justice systems, as well as teach...

By Asher Lehrer-Small, Photo: Asher Lehrer-Small, The 74 Million, January 27, 2022 P aullette Healy can tick off the ways her family’s life has been plunged into uncertainty and fear over the last three months: Her younger child’s repeated nightmares and increased anxiety, the hours she’s poured into collecting forms from her kids’ doctor and psychiatrist to prove she’s a fit parent and an arduous and probably costly legal process that still looms to clear her name. From early November...

In collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Child Focus, Child Trends has developed the STRENGTH principles to serve youth in the child welfare and justice systems in positive, developmentally appropriate ways. The principles help systems that serve children and young adults apply Positive Youth Development approaches, focus on equity and inclusion, and involve communities and families. More information is available here: Integrating Positive Youth Development and Racial Equity,...

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) recently released several reports related to youth involved in systems of care: Breaking the Stigma and Changing the Narrative: Strategies for Supporting Expectant and Parenting Youth Involved in Systems of Care provides an overview and critique of research findings about expectant and parenting youth and the stigma associated with young parenthood. It also discusses four strategies to break the stigmatization of expectant and parenting youth,...

By Emma Peyton Williams, upEND Contributor, November 17, 2021 By including the family policing system in their book Prison by Any Other Name , Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law link the punitive nature of the prison system to “the current punitive model for social services.” The similarities that Schenwar and Law note, such as each system’s focus on coercing compliance as opposed to changing material realities and the disproportionate impact of each system on people of color, particularly Black...

Spring registration is now open for Trauma-Informed Education & Supporting Marginalized Students courses! NYC teachers may earn A+ credits.

After a successful pilot launch, the Foster Care Supply Drive is set to expand throughout SW Washington State in the Spring of 2022. During the pilot phase, which began in Washougal/Camas we were able to procure enough donations from 6 businesses to create 110 welcome bags for youth entering foster care. Donation bins and marketing materials are scheduled to be delivered between March 1st, 2022, and March 4th, 2022. The Foster Care Supply Drive was created based on first-hand experiences of...

By The Imprint Staff Reporters, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 11, 2022 A new study of young people who have been in foster care and are enrolled at community colleges in Illinois paints a dismal picture of their educational success, and researchers said they would expect similar results if studies were conducted in other states. Released Monday by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, the study said such youths typically struggled in high school, leaving them ill-prepared for...

By Paul S. Dilorenzo, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 3, 2022 I'm not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. They’re more of a sugar high than an actual meal. I favor the twelve step practice of daily introspection and ongoing self-reflection. It’s more realistic, longer lasting and helps us to understand the complexity of the tasks involved with real change. That’s because continuous examination requires us to ask: how I am being called to improve and to reflect on my decisions?

By Alex Boyd, Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press, The Star, January 4, 2022 Visitors have come from Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. A biker group cruised all the way from Edmonton. Grandmothers brought their own chairs so they could sit and stay awhile. In the six months since Cowessess First Nation announced the discovery of 751 unmarked graves, the site has become an informal gathering place for community members and strangers alike who come to pay their respects to the people...