Permanency in the News is a weekly email roundup of media stories on permanency in child welfare curated and distributed by Dr. Greg Manning. Below you will find this week’s edition.
Permanency Tip of the Week: Give Out Some At-A-Girls and At-A-Boys to Everyone
One of the biggest rewards of facilitating a youth achieving permanency is the unbridled joy that you see in their faces, hear in their speech and observe in the way they interact with their permanent connections. The work of securing and sustaining permanency for our youth can be/is both incredibly challenging, exhausting and frustrating and also be exciting, invigorating and fun. Just as we focus on providing lots of positive feedback to our youth, we need to be sure to share that same gift with our colleagues and most importantly with ourselves. The next time you do something good or see someone else doing something good – please be sure to be generous with your At-A-Girls and At-A-Boys!
Permanency Story of the Week: Couple Adopts Four Babies in Just 24 Hours after Heartbreaking Loss
US Magazine – Jeremy Carling isn’t a crier. But the 30-year-old from Farmington, Utah, broke down after adopting four daughters in 24 hours on Oct. 20. “We were sitting at the table being sworn in and just talking about how much we love these girls and he just couldn’t help himself,” Jeremy’s wife, Kaley Carling, tells Us Weekly of the emotional moment. “It has been a really long road.” Finally, on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, the Carlings adopted all four children, and they say it was meant to be. “I always felt like we would end up with the children that we were supposed to wind up with,” the mom of Haven, 2, Indie, 15 months, and 9-month-old twins Sunny and Weslie, tells Us. “Now that they’re here, I believe that more than ever.”
Current Permanency Related Articles:
Child-Focused Recruitment: What is It and Why Does It Work?
CSR Wire – The number of children waiting to be adopted from U.S. foster care has consistently exceeded the number of finalized adoptions. Strategies for recruiting and matching adoptive families for these children have a history of anecdotal rather than evidence-based development. Cataloging children online or through the media is common practice and supported by federal funding, but there is scant evidence to suggest it is an effective method for effectively recruiting appropriate families, particularly for those most at risk of aging out of care: older youth, sibling groups and children with mental and physical challenges.
Helping Military Families At-Risk of Child Abuse
San Antonio Express – Fueling the need for such a program is new data that shows the incidence of child abuse and neglect among military families is rising. Historically, the rate of child maltreatment in military families has been about half that of the civilian population – around seven confirmed cases versus 14 per 1,000 children. Since 2003, however, it has begun to outpace the nonmilitary statistics, a trend that coincides with the post-9/11 rise in overseas military operations, according to a study by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Parental Attachment Problems
Psychology Today – How you bond with caregivers during early childhood affects how you behave in relationships and friendships, how in touch you are with your emotions and how much you will allow yourself to love others on a conscious level … When adequate attachment between child and caregiver is lacking, the child grows up with an impaired ability to trust that the world is a safe place, and that others will take good care of her. Childhood abandonment, unpredictable parental behavior, unrealistic parental expectations, and physical, verbal or emotional abuse teach the child that her environment is not a safe place and that the people she encounters cannot be trusted.
Why ‘Jazzy’s Quest: What Matters Most’ is a Must-Have Children’s Adoption Book
What matters most to you? This is a question we are all asking, a question that can be hard to answer when there aren’t black or white outcomes. “What matters most” is what ten-year-old adoptee Jazzy Armstrong needs to figure out when faced with some tough decisions in her own life. Is what matters most being invited to the coolest birthday party in town? Is it competing in an amazing “Star Wars” contest? Or is it helping a friend in need?
Jazzy’s Quest: What Matters Most is the second book in the groundbreaking Jazzy’s Quest series, written by authors Juliet C. Bond, LCSW and Carrie Goldman. This new book explores friendship issues that are common in tween social circles, with the rich additional layer of being processed through the lens of an adoptee. Kids will relate to Jazzy’s search for belonging both at school and at home. Written with emotional intelligence and a page-turning story line, adults will be hanging on to every word as well.
Trauma-Informed Judges Take Gentler Approach, Administer Problem-Solving Justice to Stop Cycle of ACEs
ACEs Too High – Three years ago, Judge Lynn Tepper of Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Dade City, FL, learned about the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. The ground-breaking research links childhood abuse and neglect with adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. It was like flipping a switch … Most judges in the United States are unfamiliar with the ACE study and the research on the neurobiology of toxic stress that has emerged over the last 15 years. But that’s beginning to change in courtrooms across the U.S., due to a number of educational programs aimed at producing trauma-informed judges — and courts.
Domestic Violence and the Child Welfare System
Child Welfare Information Gateway – Domestic violence is a devastating social problem that affects every segment of the population. It is critical for child welfare professionals and other providers who work with children who have experienced abuse to understand the relationship between domestic violence and child maltreatment, as many families experiencing domestic violence also come to the attention of the child welfare system. This bulletin discusses the extent of the overlap between domestic violence and child welfare, some of the effects of domestic violence on child witnesses, and the trend toward a more collaborative, community-wide response to the issue. It also features promising practices from states and local communities.
By Gregory Manning This post Permanency in the News appeared first on The Chronicle of Social Change.