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Did you know that societal inequities can impact a person's long-term health outcomes? Marginalization is the exclusion of a disadvantaged person or group to the fringe of society. It results in individuals being overlooked when laws, policies, and practices are established that protect the privileged class, and leads to adverse community environments--such as poverty, poor housing, and lack of mobility--that promote fertile ground for structural violence and harm, including racism and...

This toolkit from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network helps child welfare agencies support children and youth during and after natural disasters. This toolkit is for child welfare staff, supervisors, and administrators who work with and on behalf of children, youth, and families who experience a natural disaster. The information and resources included in the toolkit provide evidence- and trauma-informed guidance for promoting positive outcomes for children and youth who experience...

Extended Respite vs Child-Centered models of care Stability of Placements, especially of these young children, should be valued and maintained. Placements should be disrupted only if there are strong reasons to believe that continuing the placement is likely to be harmful and that the new placement is likely to better meet the child’s emotional needs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3422627/

By Madison Hunt, The Imprint, October 1, 2021 A s Broadway reopens in New York City, a courageous and lesser-known group of actors also takes to the stage this weekend, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Nine teens raised in government care are performing through Sunday at Brooklyn’s Mark O’Donnell Theater, their unfiltered and personal struggles presented in “Foster Care Unplugged, The Stage Play Part Two.” The production, created with the financial support of the city’s...

Video resource for teachers, doctors, and mental health professionals to better understand the complexities in intercountry and transracial adoption.

By AdoptUSKids, June 15, 2021 Long before COVID, children’s lives were increasingly spent online. Researchers estimate that 70 percent of us spend more than two hours a day on social media alone. If you’re a parent, you might be thinking: “Only two hours! My son is on his phone a lot more than that!” There are many well documented dangers created by children’s spending excessive amounts of time online. Children in foster care are often at a greater risk because they may have less impulse...

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 is one of the key components to protecting the rights and culture of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and families. Unfortunately, not all child welfare caseworkers are aware of how to apply ICWA or the troubling history that prompted the law to be enacted. This factsheet provides caseworkers with an overview of current and historical issues affecting child welfare practice with AI/AN families, practice implications, and cultural...

By Leyland Cecco, The Guardian, September 29, 2021 A federal court in Canada has paved they way for billions in compensation to First Nations children who suffered discrimination in the welfare system, after a judge dismissed a pair of legal challenges by the government. Two years ago , the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government had “wilfully and recklessly” discriminated against Indigenous children living on reserves by failing to properly fund child and family...

This new report shares the results of a participatory action research (PAR) project that Rise conducted in winter 2021 in partnership with TakeRoot Justice . Our research documents parents’ experiences with the family policing system and explores a collective vision to transform our society’s structures, policies and practices related to family and community support. Imaginative and sometimes painful community conversations with 48 people impacted by ACS provide the foundation of this...

By The Annie E. Casey Foundation, September 23, 2021 IN THIS BRIEF, YOU'LL LEARN Why lawmakers should act before pandemic-relief provisions expire. The disparate outcomes that youth and families of color face in foster care. Why effective youth advocacy is important. Policy solutions that enhance support for all young people in foster care. SUMMARY This brief highlights historical federal child welfare policy achievements and urges policymakers to champion new reforms that promote lasting...

By Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World, September 16, 2021 Child welfare services could be more effective — and less expensive — if they were more proactive than reactive, an Oklahoma House of Representatives subcommittee was told Tuesday. “Sixty percent of child protective services responses nationally are for neglect only, … but our interventions have been predominantly focused on addressing … physical abuse,” said Claire Anderson, a senior policy advisor with the Chapin Hall child welfare...

By Sara Tiano and Kelly Davis, the Imprint, September 2, 2021 Before July when it became unlawful, California officials sent hundreds of vulnerable children each year to residential treatment programs as far-flung as Wyoming and Florida. They were kids who the courts, social workers and probation officers decided were too troubled to place in family foster homes or in local group facilities. Their behaviors were so unsafe and mental health issues so severe, local officials determined, their...