CHAMPS campaign advocates for the amazing parents that help foster children recover from trauma, grow, and flourish.
This toolkit provides sample Facebook posts, social media images, tweets and a blurb for a newsletter.
Click here for a link CHAMPS Facebook page.
Click here for the communications toolkit.
When a county child welfare agency fails to protect a child like Gabriel, there is actually a legal mechanism available to all of us to challenge the county’s decision and bring a child at risk directly to the attention of the juvenile court. His teacher could have filed a simple court form called the JV-210 and asked the juvenile court judge to review the county’s decision not to take protective action, see the form and details here. The JV-210 form should be something every foster parent, teach, and child advocate knows how to use. Next time a teacher’s or any child advocate’s concerns fall on deaf ears, ;et’s hope they know that they can file a JV-210 to ask the judge to review a county welfare agency decision.
BREAKING NEWS ALERT
A Los Angeles County judge ruled today that four social workers should stand trial on charges of criminal negligence in the death of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy they were charged with protecting, allowing prosecutors to push ahead with a case that has sent a chill through the ranks of child protection workers nationwide..
Read the complete article here.
In 2017, California’s group homes will be shutting down— or changing, at the very least — in the wake of new legislation passed in September 2015. The measure aims to move the state’s foster care system toward encouraging family-based placements for all foster children.
Critics of the bill argue that closing group homes will hurt kids in a system that already suffers from too few foster care beds, and that tough-to-place kids who may have behavioral issues but don’t meet the “clinical need” qualifications will be especially affected. Read more here.
Jessica, my first foster child, whom I last saw 14 years ago, emailed me out of the blue. She was barely nine then, and I was surprised to hear from her as I had never given her my email address.
My husband and I had thought of Jessica and her younger sister Nicole many times since they left our home in 2002 to be reunified with their family. Jessica (8 years old at time of placement) and her sister Nicole (18 months) were our first foster children, as well as the first children we ever parented. (Read more here.) Article by Shannon Hernandez, American Bar Association.
Jim Newton reports for the Los Angeles Times on the foster care system and why the county should include foster parents in decisions about the children in their care. Deborah Dentler discusses the grievance procedure for foster parents. Read the complete article here.L.A. County is in an unusual predicament. Traditionally, the county’s foster care system has struggled with a shortage of homes for children who are older and with medical and mental health needs. But just this past year, system workers have noticed a shift: suddenly, there’s a shortage of beds for the system’s babies and toddlers. Read the full article posted by SCPR here.
For children in foster care available for adoption, and for whom no adoptive family has been identified, the AdoptUSKids national photolisting website serves as a tool for connecting their caseworkers with prospective adoptive families. Over the last decade, 20,000 children previously photolisted on AdoptUSKids have been placed with adoptive families. AdoptUSKids is a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Administration for Children and Families. See the full-size Infographic for AdoptUSKids Celebrating 20,000 Children Placed With Adoptive Families.
Each year, November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month. While all adoption-related issues are important, the particular focus of this month is the adoption of children currently in foster care.
Activities and celebrations are kicked off with a Presidential Proclamation, and while efforts made at the national level certainly help build awareness of adoption, participation in local programs, events, and activities by those of us with a direct connection to adoption can often be the most effective way to promote positive perceptions, debunk the myths, and draw attention to the tens of thousands of children in foster care who wait and hope for permanent families.
2012 is an exciting year for National Adoption Month. As it always has been and as it always will be, the focus for November is finding loving, permanent homes for the foster children who are waiting to be adopted. But this year marks a modern twist–social media and digital efforts. This year’s theme is: “National Adoption Month–Virtually: Adoption in the Digital Age.” The U.S. Department of Human Services knows that social media and social networking allow information to be shared easily, quickly, and effectively, and this month’s focus is on sharing, educating, and informing others about the 104,000 foster children in the United States who are currently waiting to find their forever families. To join the cause, log in to any or all of your social networking accounts and spread the word. Update your blog and share your own story to help inspire others. You can get involved without ever leaving your home. However, if you’re looking for a hands-on opportunity, communities across the country are coming together to help foster children in need. And you’re an essential part of this effort! Help make 2012’s National Adoption Month the best one yet!
