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Interjurisdictional Placement of Children in the Child Welfare System: Improving the Process Placements of foster children across state lines are often delayed due to complications in the interjurisdictional placement process. This new report from the Children’s Bureau provides recommendations for addressing the delays and complexities of these placements. Downloadable 265 page pdf file. Click on the link above to download. ++++++++++ Florida Foster Children with Disabilities Will Finally Get Needed Care
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman has been fighting with state officials for several years to get help for Miami foster children. She held hearings last month for 35 Miami foster children who have been on a waiting list, some for years, for speech, occupational and physical therapy and other services covered by the State. In recent weeks the state has moved to qualify over 300 kids for services.
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Science Says: Foster Care Youth – This new “Science Says” Research brief presents data on pregnancy and birth rates, sexual behavior, and the use of reproductive health services among youth in foster care. This information from the report:
By age 19, nearly half of young women in foster care have been pregnant, compared to a fifth of their peers not in foster care.
By age 19, 46% of teen girls in foster care who have been pregnant have had a subsequent pregnancy, compared to 29% of their peers outside the system.
By age 19, young women in foster care are more likely than those not in foster care to have had sexual intercourse (90% and 78% respectively).
Issue Brief: Implementation of Home Visitation Programs: Stories From the States
This study looks at the experience of developing state-based home-visiting systems. The characteristics of state-based home visiting systems vary from one state to another and from one home-visiting program to another but they all confront similar challenges with respect to sustainability.
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The Judges’ Page
The latest issue of The Judges’ Page is out and its subject this time is Best Practices in Court-CASA/GAL Relations. Articles include ‘Strengthening Your CASA/GAL Program: A Judge’s Perspective’ and ‘Ethics and Best Practices for Judges Involved in Recruiting and Training.’ The Judges’ Page is an online newsletter jointly produced by NCJFCJ and the National CASA Association.
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Katie A. v Bonta
This California foster care case on the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law In Court section of its web site includes links to a number of documents of interest. Click on the link above for a review of all the documents in Katie A. v Bonta or click on the links below. I found both these to be useful: Wraparound and Therapeutic Foster Care and Their Implications for Taxpayers
Katie A Practice Principles ++++++++++ Permanency Planning Today
The Summer 2006 issue of the newsletter of the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning includes articles on youth defined permanency, adultism and cultural competence, race matters in child welfare, and a lengthy resource section. ++++++++++ Foster Parent College
Online training for foster, adoptive, kinship and birth parents. Interactive courses provide advice and information from experts dealing with serious child behavior problems. The web site includes courses on kinship care, ADHD/ADD/ODD, positive parenting, safe parenting, sexualized behavior, lying, stealing, fire-setting, and more. ++++++++++ Public Child Welfare Adoption Topics
The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption provides links to information on the following topics: kinship adoption, open adoption, foster parents, adoption assistance, compassion fatigue, concurrent planning, decision making and matching, family group decision making, family preparation and assessment, older child adoption, sibling adoption, mediation, and post adoption assistance. ++++++++++ Mental HealthFoster Care Resources
The Foster Care Alumni of America Organization has a section of resources on its web site that cover mentoring, recruiting foster parents, teaching children and youth in foster care, youth transitioning from foster care, and information about the foster care system. ++++++++++ ABA Focuses on At Risk Youth in 2006-07
ABA President Karen Mathis has chosen to focus on at-risk teens and the legal issues that affect them during her term of office. Recommendations from the ABA Youth at Risk Initiative Planning Conference are available for download. The recommendations include: Better Hearing the Voices of Youth in Court Reforming the Juvenile “Status Offender” Process Enhancing Teen Access to Safe and Appropriate Prevention and Treatment Services Assisting Youth Who Are “Aging Out” of Foster Care
There is also a downloadable outline for establishing and running a truancy program available to you online from the Spring 2006 Criminal Justice Section Newsletter. These two pages will give you the bare bones for setting up a program. More detailed information available online. See note at the end of page two. ++++++++++ The Case of Marie and Her Sons
The New York Times Sunday Magazine from July 23 includes a lengthy (14 pages) article about a mother trying to get her children back, her interactions with social services, and a brief history of social work in the U.S. which includes the 1874 story of “Little Mary Ellen,” whose case as an abused and neglected child was taken up by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ++++++++++ It’s My Life: Postsecondary Education
The Casey Foundation presents this resource guide for child welfare professionals to help young people from foster care prepare academically, financially, and emotionally for postsecondary education and training success. See link in upper right hand corner of your screen to download this publication and a companion piece, It’s My Life: Financial Aid. ++++++++++ Foster Adoption Law - Success and Challenges Foster adoptions have increased 64% nationwide, but there is debate about whether the government is too focused on money for adoptions. Kentucky, for instance, is investigating the process of terminating parental rights in the wake of allegaitons from some social workers and others that the Cabinet for health and Family Service sometimes worngly terminates parental rights. ++++++++++ The Amachi Model: Building from the Ground Up: Creating Effective programs to Mentor Children of Prisoners
Public/Private Ventures’ five years of hands-on experience designing and implanting Amachi program around the country are drawn upon in this best practice model for mentoring children of prisoners. It is a guidebook for learning the professional procedures, standards and administrative tools required for an effective program. Downloadable 45 page pdf file. Can also be purchased in hard copy online. Related Article: Locking Up Parents, Damaging Children
Book review of All Alone in the world: Children of the Incarcerated. From the review, "The unprecedented expansion of the prison population in the U.S. over the last 30 years, driven largely by changes in the way the law treats drug users and drug sellers, has had profound effects on millions of people who have never committed a crime: the children of prisoners, but also their siblings and other family members, friends and neighbors.” ++++++++++ The Judges’ Page: Family Visitation of Children and Youth in Foster Care
The latest issue of The Judges’ Page, a jointly produced online publication by NCJFCJ and the national CASA association, deals with issues associated with family visits for children in foster care. All articles are brief, cogent, and highly informative in this special newsletter for dependency court judges. ++++++++++ How One Community Acts for Children in Foster Care
Connect for Kids reports on Cabarrus County, North Carolina’s activities on behalf of foster children. The Safe House, for instance, provides an opportunity for siblings who have been separated to get together, have fun, and visit with other kids in the same position. Foster parents in the county keep informed through monthly training meetings, newsletters and annual appreciation events. ++++++++++ Foster Care Alumni of America
This new, national non-profit organization for children, youth and adults who share the foster care experience intends to be the voice for change for individuals and the entire foster care system. ++++++++++ In Florida, Kids in State Care Down; kids Missing from Child Welfare Up
While the number of children in Florida’s child welfare system is down, the number of kids missing has skyrocketed to 652, most of them runaway teens and youngsters snatched from foster care by their biological parents. ++++++++++ A Union for Washington Foster Parents
In recent months foster parents in the state of Washington have been working quietly on a plan to join the Washington Federation of State Employees and make Washington the first state in the country where foster parents will be part of a union. ++++++++++ Parental Substance Abuse, Child Protection and ASFA: Implications for Policy Makers and Practitioners
This study was designed to explore how dependency courts are making permanency decisions under ASFA for children of parental substance abusers. Through mail and telephone surveys, legal analysis and five case studies of courts that have implemented special strategies, four policy and practice implications recommendations were derived. The link above is to the report’s executive summary, a 22 page pdf file. ++++++++++ What About the Dads?
This study documents that nonresident fathers of children in foster care are not often involved in case planning efforts and nearly half are never contacted by the child welfare agency during their child’s stay in foster care. Caseworkers may overlook potential social connections and resources that could help to achieve permanency for the child. Nine page summary report. Full report is also available for download. ++++++++++ 2005-2006 Student Guide to Higher Education: A Practical Guide
The Michigan Foster Education Resource Network has published a guide to higher education for youth in foster care written by a former foster care college student. The guide is short, sweet, and packed with practical information and guidance for foster youth navigating the complexities of college life. ++++++++++ Introducing Child Permanency Mediation in New York State: Planning and Implementing a Multi-Site Pilot Project
NCJFCJ’s Permanency Planning for Children Department announces this new online Technical Assistance Brief. The New York State Unified Court System and the Office of Children and Family Services developed a process to implement a child permanency mediation pilot project in New York State. The primary purpose of this report is to aid future implementation efforts of child permanency mediation programs within New York State and elsewhere. Available only on the NCJFCJ web site.
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Mythbusting: Breaking Down Confidentiality and Decision-Making Barriers to Meet the Education Needs of Children in Foster Care
This product of the ABA Center on Children and the Law answers common questions by individuals involved with the child welfare system, including judges, children’s attorneys, parents, foster parents, youth, caseworkers, and court appointed special advocates. 70 page pdf file. ++++++++++ Fostering Hope: Preventing Teen Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and ucan (Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network) collaborated to produce this report which combines existing research with new qualitative research on foster care youth, foster parents, and child welfare providers as well as advice from child welfare and teen pregnancy prevention professions. 32 page pdf file ++++++++++
On Your Own at Eighteen
On Your Own Without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable Populations.
The MacArthur Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood has released this, its latest volume on vulnerable youth. Read the forward and a summary of a recent panel discussion of the book at this link.
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The Iowa Child Advocacy Board and Drake University’s Middle Center for Children’s Rights want to organize volunteers who can quickly locate relatives or friends to care for children of jailbound Des Moines residents. They have a plan designed to prevent DHS involvement and allow families to be the solution. Under the plan, fewer children would enter he child welfare system solely because of a parent’s arrest and if the child is adopted, he or she is more likely to be adopted by relatives.
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THE LINK
The Winter 2006 issue of CWLA’s online newsletter examining the link between juvenile justice and child welfare is available online. This issue has two articles:
Legal Analysis in Systems Integration, and
African American Males in Foster Care and the Risk of Delinquency
++++++++++ Congressional Foster Youth Internship Program The program is a competitive, highly esteemed Congressional Internship for young adults who were in U.S. foster care at the time of their 18th birthday or who were adopted after the 14th birthday from the U.S. foster care system. All applicants must be enrolled in college and have completed 4 semesters by June 1, 2006. Thirteen to 15 academically successful college students will be placed in the Washington, D.C. offices of Members of Congress for six weeks between June 1 and July 15, 2006. This web site will provide more details and access to application forms which must be postmarked by February 24, 2006. ++++++++++ Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Bill of Rights
Published by the San Francisco Partnership for Incarcerated Parents, this publication contains a bill of eight rights with accompanying detail about each including next steps and stories of children who have experienced the flip side of each. Downloadable 12 page pdf file. ++++++++++ Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth
Chapin Hall presents two reports on the first two waves of findings from a longitudinal study of youth aging out of foster care and transitioning to adulthood in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. At this web site you can download these two documents either as executive summaries or the full report:
Outcomes at Age 19
Conditions of Youth preparing to Leave State Care ++++++++++ Children Missing From Care: How Should Agencies Respond?
This article from a recent issue of the Children’s Voice magazine published by CWLA addresses the issues associated with children who are found missing from foster care. ++++++++++ Standby Guardianship A review of state statutes on standby guardianships, establishing a standby guardian, activating the standby guardian, and withdrawing guardianship. Includes a list of provisions shared by most standby guardian law Kidsdata Two counties in California are using advanced information technology to provide information about foster care and other issues involving child health and wellbeing through the Kidsdata.org web site. San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are tracking 30 health topics and providing analysis about how children are faring in each topic area. ++++++++++ Trauma and children: An introduction for foster parents
The latest issue of Fostering Perspectives, a North Carolina newsletter for foster care parents, is devoted to trauma and children. The newsletter defines trauma, its causes, and children’s reactions to traumatic events. It offers foster parents suggestions on what they can do, and concludes with a smattering of resources on the subject. ++++++++++ Relative Search Best Practice Guide The Minnesota Department of Human Services has published this guide to assist county social service agencies in performing relative searches when a child is removed from the home. The guide is intended to strengthen and improve timely identification and notification to relatives. ++++++++++ Tools for Working with Kinship Caregivers The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning has put together a compendium of training materials, assessment tools, handbooks fore caregivers, and websites, all accessible online. Click on the link above. ++++++++++ Family Finding Program The Family Finding Program at EMQ Children and Family Services helps reconnect children back to their biological families and speed their recovery from emotional trauma. Using modern search technology, the program works to locate family members, to reestablish relationships and explore ways to find a permanent family placement for children who have lost their family ties. Of 1,000 searches for family members, researchers located parents or relatives for all the children except one. ++++++++++ |
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