Blog

By Center for the Study of Social Policy, January 26, 2021 Healthy Teen Network is currently seeking 18-26 year-old parents, who were in foster care around age 17, or have "aged-out" of the system, to participate in a new research projects centering and understanding the needs of young parents during the pandemic. Participants will receive compensation of $50 or $95, depending on how they choose to engage with the project. View the complete flyer here. For those interested, please email...

By First Focus on Children, January 26, 2021 Join us for a conversation with First Focus for Children and the Center for the Study of Social Policy to examine the history of racism within the child welfare system on Friday, January 29th at 12:00pm EST. This is the first in a series of public conversations on child welfare and race equity. You can tune in to the conversation on Facebook Live on January 29th — and we invite you to join us using # FosterUnderstanding . [ Please click here to...

By Megan Conn, The Imprint, January 13, 2021 Ten months into a deadly pandemic that continues to wreak havoc on society and the economy, a federal relief package bundled extra child welfare money to states with a new rule: You can’t let foster youth age out into adulthood during the ongoing coronavirus emergency. The news was welcomed by New York child welfare advocates, who had spent much of the past year appealing to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) for a statewide moratorium on aging out of foster...

Resilience, which is defined as the capacity to recover from difficulties, is a vital tool in building a strong child welfare system, but what does that really mean? It is easy to say that resiliency is important, but effectively utilizing systems and tools for children and families as well as the employees who serve them is a different challenge. Through the latest research, we know resilience is made up of many different factors, from one’s genetics to their environment and support...

By Jeremy Loudenback, The Imprint, January 7, 2021 For Pari Lucero , the path to escaping addiction and domestic violence started in a dependency courtroom three days after she gave birth to her daughter Beth. Wearing a new dress, she listened with dread that day in 2006, as a lawyer for Los Angeles County pushed to remove her children after she tested positive for drugs at the hospital. When the judge agreed, a dazed Lucero watched as three of her children — including her newborn — were...

As we enter 2021, we are taking time to reflect on a turbulent 2020. While throughout the pandemic calls for racial equity and deepening economic uncertainty upended child welfare practice as we know it, 2020 was also a time for major pivots that will have long lasting repercussions. Join Fostering Media Connections and Binti for a webinar where child welfare leaders will discuss how this transformational year has changed child welfare practice and policy. Our panelists: – David Hansell,...

By Jessica Pryce and Amelia Franck Meyer, The Imprint, January 4, 2021 Although child welfare reform has been a topic of conversation for many years, what is often meant by “reform” is evolutionary or incremental change, which are efforts to make the current system better, but not fundamentally different. But many systems leaders who operate significantly improved versions of the current system agree that it still falls short of meeting the needs of families. The Biden administration...

(l to r) Elaine Miller Karas co-developer of CRM; Jim Sporleder, former principal of Walla Walla High School; and Edwin Weaver at the 2018 ACEs Conference & Pediatric Symposium in San Francisco. After watching the late Jamie Redford’s 2015 film, “ Paper Tigers ,” about a Washington state high school where ACEs integration transformed graduation rates, Edwin Weaver knew he had to take action. Weaver is the executive director of Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley , providing social services...

Hey everyone, its Anissa here! For those of you who may not know I am the Youth Systems Navigator for TAY Oceanside! TAY Oceanside is a drop-in and outreach program for youth experiencing instability in North County San Diego. A week ago, I drove down to St. Vincent’s Shelter to help do a supply drop off to help our young participants. I got lost in the drive, I got lost in my mind, as I reflected deeply on this year. I realized how drastically my life has changed. How I went from a...

By Sarah Duran, December 21, 2020 San Antonio. SAN ANTONIO — There's no place like home for the holidays and that is exactly where Ellie, Daisy and J.P. Seastrunk will be spending Christmas this year with their newly adoptive family. The 6-year-old twin sisters and their 10-year-old brother were adopted in October after spending three years in the foster care system. "I pretty much fell in love from the moment the idea was put in front of me and we made a commitment to go ahead and say yes.

By Kenyon Lee Whitman and Brianna M. Harvey, The Imprint, December 2, 2020 Black foster youth are caught in a nexus of incarceration which is formed by their engagement with child welfare, education and policing. Our recent brief published by UCLA’s Black Male Institute on Los Angeles County public schools serves to elucidate these grim realities. California public schools educate over 46,000 K-12 students in foster care, and about a third of them attend Los Angeles County public schools. An...

ACEs Connection, the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice ( CTIPP), and the Relentless School Nurse will be hosting a Zoom discussion on Tuesday, Dec, 15th at 7p.m. EST about parts 1, 2, and 3 of Whole People. We hope you can join us: Pre-Registration Link Quotes from Childhood Trauma (Part 1 of Whole People): If you have yet to watch the Whole People series, you can still do so by visiting the PBS website. There is no cost to watch. 101 | Childhood Trauma | 102 | Healing...