Tagged With "foster parents"

This school year, an endeavor of the Franklin Pierce Hewins Early Learning Center (ELC) was to bring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience to the preschool families. What began as a broad idea soon turned into an exciting project: “Rise to Resilience & Hope”. Our ELC has had a Kids at Hope culture for many years – believing that all children are capable of success, with no exceptions. With Kids at Hope, the adults are Treasure Hunters, seeking out and recognizing the...

Sound Discipline offers a Building Resiliency series for educators, parents and anyone who works with youth. Our next workshop is March 18 - Building Resiliency 1: Strategies to Engage Youth Exposed to Trauma. Details and registration here. Building Resiliency 2: Firmness Tools is next offered May 6. Details and registration here. You can take these workshops in any order. We appreciate your referrals! Refer your colleagues and friends - we do a drawing each month for a Community Building...

On Thursday volunteers and local government employees fanned out across Thurston County for the annual “point in time” count of people who are homeless. It’s a task that’s challenging, important and never quite complete. No matter how hard they try, census-takers can’t find every tent camp hidden in the woods, every family living in their car, or every person who sleeps under a bridge or in a backyard toolshed. Census takers also can’t be sure why the people they’re counting are homeless.

It all started in Erika Thompson’s garage. Thompson, who has been a foster parent for a decade, remembers it well. Not long before, she welcomed the first of what would become many foster children into her home. Like many foster kids, the child arrived on Thompson’s doorstep in crisis and with almost nothing. The child was from King County, so Thompson was able to turn to a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides support and services for foster kids and their caregivers, including new and...

When I joined the Franklin Pierce Early Learning Center a year ago, I was immediately struck by the positive and hopeful atmosphere. I would quickly learn that the school is a Kids at Hope school - believing and practicing that "All Children are Capable of Success, No Exceptions!" Adults at a Kids at Hope school are Treasure Hunters - seeking out the strengths of both the children and adults in the building, as well as within themselves. I soon was connected with Wally Endicott as I prepared...

Association of Social Adversity with Comorbid Diabetes and Depression Symptoms in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study: A Syndemic Framework. McCurley JL, Gutierrez AP, Bravin JI, Schneiderman N, Reina SA, Khambaty T, Castañeda SF, Smoller S, Daviglus ML, O'Brien MJ, Carnethon MR, Isasi CR, Perreira KM, Talavera GA, Yang M, Gallo LC. Ann Behav Med . 2019 Apr 5. pii: kaz009. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaz009. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:30951585 Similar...

Peninsula Hands on Art brings art instruction to public elementary schools in the greater Gig Harbor area. GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Fifteen years ago Marla Morgan was a mom who wanted her own kids to have more art in school. Today, she leads Peninsula Hands On Art , a nonprofit that provides art instruction to more than 4,000 students in Pierce County each year. Reaching every elementary student in the Peninsula School District, it is the program's foundational belief that students across all...

Washington State Essentials for Childhood is launching a series of lunchtime webinar series. Series three and four webinars are: 3 Guiding Truths for Building Regulation and Resilience in Children with Significant Trauma Related Needs Time and Date: April 14, 2020; 12:00 – 1:00pm Presented by: Tiffany Sudela-Junker Mother by adoption, Tiffany Sudela-Junker shares stories from her own personal and parenting transformation along with the science & insight that led her to uncover Three...

Mark your calendar for the third Washington statewide ACEs and Resilience Community of Practice event, hosted by the Washington State Essentials for Childhood, Washington State Department of Health, and Everett Public Schools. Time: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm Location: Everett Public Schools Community Resource Center 3900 Broadway Everett, WA 98201 Registration information will be available soon. This event will provide opportunities to connect with people across the state who are working to grow...

Last month, Help Me Grow and First 5 FUNdamentals released their Parent Feedback Summary Report. Below is an excerpt, and you can access the full report in the attachment. Background In the fall of 2017, community leaders came together to brainstorm how to solve the child welfare crisis in Pierce County. 6,200 children entered out-of-home care in Washington State in 2017. Among all counties in the state, Pierce County experienced the highest number of children entering care, at 1,009.

At Washington State Penitentiary, Tony McGuire talks to the inmates in his construction trades apprenticeship preparation (CTAP) class about ACEs, trauma and resilience every single day. Not only is he teaching the guys a trade, but he also teaches them how to be a healthy, happy and well-adjusted employee. Note: Becoming a healthy, happy, well-adjusted employee is way harder than basic carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning).

With a grant from King County’s Best Starts for Kids, Vashon Youth & Family Services plans to help Vashon become a “trauma informed community” in an effort to improve the overall health and resilience of islanders. “With this program, we see a unique opportunity to create a culture shift,” Roderick McClain, VYFS’ grantwriter, said. “The ultimate goal is for individuals and organizations to be better equipped and organized to deal with those experiencing the effects of trauma.” The roots...

By Ross Hunter, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 11, 2019 As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington. I talked to caseworkers, foster parents, birth families, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and anyone else I could find who had an opinion. I got an earful. “Everything is broken.” “I had a great experience.” “The caseworker never called...

Such a positive story about women and children developing the skills and attachment that they will need to successfully transition into the community. It seems that the Washington prison system has been innovative for some time. More than ten years ago, when we traveled, we brought our well loved dog Lucky the prison to be boarded. They had a special program which allowed inmates to love and care for dogs that needed to be boarded. Our dog, Lucky was well taken care of and always so clean,...

Hi Karen, Thank you for sharing your experience with the dog boarding program! I have heard great comments about it from others as well. One thing that I love about the WCCW Early Head Start program, is that the women have a voice and are able to participate in PSESD's Policy Council! "Family involvement and leadership are critical to the success of our programs. Policy Council representatives, who are elected by their respective sites' parent groups, work in tandem with program...

Whether or not to screen for ACEs in primary care is an important debate—and I hear and respect the passion from both sides of the argument. I fall in the “pro-ACE assessments” camp, but with some important caveats. I think that assessments for ACEs are dramatically different from screening for autism or developmental delays. In my opinion, assessments for ACEs in primary care should be primarily about building relationships.

Before the creation of DCYF, funding and services were not always connected. The draft strategic plan helps our agency focus on how we serve children, youth, families and our communities as one entity. This framework helps to build on existing funding and services to strengthen our ability to serve families as well as to disrupt racial inequity and disproportionality in our systems. There is more work ahead for us to accomplish the priorities set out in the draft plan. The process to gather...

You could say that Ann Penn-Charles, a native of La Push, Washington, was a natural resilience builder even before there was an ACE Study. La Push is a Native American reservation on the western edge of Olympic National Park, where the Quileute Nation ancestors of “Miss Ann”, as she is known, have lived for generations. Although she faced hardships growing up on the reservation, including having her first child when she was a junior in high school, she was able to graduate with the support...

Kitsap Strong is excited to launch the 3rd Annual Resiliency Summit! In the hopes of making an engaging and inclusive virtual education experience, we have arranged for a full month of Lunch Time Learning sessions during the Month of October! This month-long (Monday - Friday) lunch and learn series will be a hope-filled experience in connecting, learning, and growing together to build a more resilient community! We are honored to offer increadible sessions provided by: Roberto Dansie-...

Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...

Join us on Friday November 6, 2020 from noon to 1:00 PST as we come together and join Satya Chandragiri MD, Bonnie O’Hern RN, Denise PNP, & Michael Polacek RN for a discussion around the tender issue of suicide. Together we will discuss ways people and providers can support each other and encourage communities to take action to support one another around suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and the layers of culture and structural barriers to care. A special emphasis will be on...