Adoption Network Cleveland’s Post

>Studies show the #1 deterrent to child abuse and neglect is to provide low-income families with services >Over 70% of youth in foster care could have safely remained with their family had the family received basic support services [AFCARS Report FY 2022] >The #1 reason a child or young adult is placed into state care is because of Neglect (poverty) without abuse >Current protocols are to remove children from their family homes and place them into UNSAFE state care should the home lack access to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or affordable childcare >The US Department of Health and Human Services offers programs to help homes that lack access to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or childcare, yet these programs are not offered to these families in need >In addition to governmental social services programs, community programs receive federal grants to help provide social services in their communities >Despite knowledge of existing support systems for families who need support, protocols are to remove children/youth from their homes and place them into unsafe state care >This practice is not just reprehensible, it leads to overcrowded, unsafe conditions for youth that need foster care

As an adult adoptee who works with foster care survivors and adoptees in college, I know firsthand how important it is to have access to stories, perspectives, and research that reflects and affirms our unique lived experiences. All too often, literature that focuses on foster youth and adoptees is created by foster/adoptive parents or child welfare professionals who lack lived experience, resulting in propaganda-fueled narratives that push harmful misinformation and fail to be trauma-informed or child-centered. As soon as I started my position as the Fostering Success program advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, I knew I wanted to build a lending library so that my students could experience the transformative power of reading books written by people who have actually been in their shoes. Thanks to the support of my wonderful team and supervisor, I have been able to start this exciting project. The Fostering Success Library contains memoirs, fictional novels, and works of nonfiction, covering a wide range of topics such as foster care, transracial and international adoption, complex trauma, critical analysis of the child welfare/family policing system, and more. Almost every book is written by a person with direct lived experience, and the ones that are not are written by researchers who have taken a fully trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, child-centered, and/or abolitionist approach to their work.   Thank you to the incredible authors featured in this collection, such as Angela Tucker, Shannon Gibney, Karlos Dillard, Roxanna Asgarian, Dorothy Roberts, Alan Dettlaff, Susan Kiyo Ito, Gretchen Sisson, Rebecca Carroll, and Nicole Chung (among so many others!) for your beautiful work. Reading your stories and scholarship has completely changed my life, and I hope that I can give my students the same experience by putting your books in their hands.   Lastly, if anyone has additional book recommendations, please let me know! I hope to continue building this collection for many years to come. #fostercare #fosteryouth #survivors #adoptee #adoption #childwelfare #socialwork #abolition #highereducation #antiracism #traumainformed #livedexperience #childhoodtrauma #mentalhealth #adversechildhoodexperiences #complextrauma #readingisfundamental #books

Have you heard of Kinship Placements? These placements allows children entering into foster care to stay connected to their family while providing a safe, loving environment. Impact's new blog explores how this essential support system changes lives and strengthens communities. Learn more below! #KinshipCare #FosterCare #ChildAdvocacy #StrongerFamilies

Useful summary of key strategies to enable more children to be placed in families.

What is kinship care? It's more common than you think: And, this month — National Kinship Awareness Month — honors those caregiving for the children in their lives, and it also gives all of us a chance to uplift the caregivers in our communities.  #Kinshipcare #family #children #relatives #fostercare #caregivers #childwelfare #NationalKinshipAwarenessMonth

National Foster Care Month conversations should include kinship care. Numerous studies have established that placing children with kin — whether biological relatives or chosen family (fictive kin) — is the best option for children, resulting in better behavioral health and well-being, increased stability and higher levels of permanency than their peers placed with non-relative caregivers. This brief outlines six key strategies, shared by individuals with lived experience and agency leaders, that support first placement with a family. https://bit.ly/2A93Wrb #NationalFosterCareMonth #NFCM2024 #FosterCare #ChildWelfare

ICYMI: What is kinship care? It's more common than you think: And, this month — National Kinship Awareness Month — honors those caregiving for the children in their lives, and it also gives all of us a chance to uplift the caregivers in our communities.  #Kinshipcare #family #children #relatives #fostercare #caregivers #childwelfare #NationalKinshipAwarenessMonth

Yesterday was Grandparents day and September is National Kinship Care Month. In aging and long-term care, we do not talk often enough about grandparents providing kinship care to grandchildren. This is when children in foster care live with their grandparent(s) or other relatives related by blood or marriage This allows kids to live with family they know and continue that important connection. This can impact older adults who all of the sudden are caring for their grandchildren, especially if they are dealing with their own health issues. In some states kinship caregivers do not receive the same monthly stipend to help defray costs of caring for a child or children that foster parents receive - which is terrible policy. I remember learning this when we were going through foster parent training - I was appalled. We can and should do better keeping families together. In December 2023, NC implemented monthly stipends for kinship caregivers. One of the kids we fostered was especially close to his grandmother who we encouraged and supported a continued relationship between them. I suggested to the DSS care manager we should work to get his grandmother services to support her so she could provide kinship care for him (if she was willing). I offered that we could be emergency back-up since we only lived about 10 minutes away. Unfortunately, DSS did not like my suggestion. These are the solutions we need to be implementing. Children in foster care do better when placed with family. We need to fix our broken foster care system. #fostercare #longtermcare

🌟 September is National Kinship Care Month 🌟 👩👧 Kinship care refers to the full-time care, nurturing, and protection of a child by relatives, Tribe or clan members, godparents, stepparents, or other adults with a family (or "like-kin") relationship to the child or youth. 🔎 When a child comes into care, social workers utilize a process called Family Finding to identify adults within the child’s network who can provide vital support. This dynamic, ongoing process ensures that children remain connected to their families, histories, and cultures throughout their time in the child welfare system. 🤝 Family Finding not only aims to establish or re-establish relationships but also recognizes the invaluable roles these adults play—sharing insights about a child’s past, contributing to safety and service planning, and serving as potential out-of-home placements and supports. 📈 Research shows that children placed in kinship care experience better behavioral and mental health outcomes compared to those in traditional foster care. They also tend to have fewer placements and school changes, and are less likely to run away. Importantly, children in kinship care are more likely to report that they “always felt loved.” 🚨 However, unfortunately only about 35% of children in foster care are placed with kinship caregivers, often due to challenges associated with Family Finding. While many agencies strive for a kin-first approach, engaging relatives can be time and labor-intensive, particularly when teams navigate disjointed tools and rigorous manual documentation processes. 💡 This is where Binti’s Family Finding Module comes in! Binti’s Family Finding module allows workers across teams to easily track family engagement workflows - identifying, contacting, and engaging with relatives and fictive kin - in order to build the largest possible support network for the child or youth and make informed placement decisions. 🕒 Our partners have shared that Binti's Family Finding Module saves workers over 10hrs per Family Finding search, allowing them to focus their valuable time on having conversations, building relationships, and identifying a comprehensive support system on behalf of each child and youth in their care. 💙 If you’re interested in learning more about how Binti can partner with your agency to champion this important work, please reach out! #ChildWelfare #FamilyEngagement #KinshipCare #Binti #CommunitySupport #TraumaInformedCare #FosteringConnections

What is kinship care? Wildly under-supported but effective: In theory, it seems obvious that kinship care should be the priority wherever possible, but the tragic reality is that kinship caregivers are often wildly under-supported, even being excluded from financial support. #Fostercare #adoption #kinship #mentalhealth #parents #education