The Good Stuff in Child Welfare
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Welcome to The Good Stuff in Child Welfare!
Our team at the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, & Research recognizes that between the all too frequent and grim child welfare stories that make us teary-eyed, clenched-fisted, and faint-hearted, there are inspiring accomplishments and heartening endeavors taking place all over this country at every level of practice. To elevate and promote these encouraging stories, we are pleased to bring you this monthly newsletter emphasizing news stories only about “The Good Stuff” from the broad field of child welfare. This month we share news coverage from coast to coast – PA, NC, TX, AZ, CA – highlighting creative approaches to working with the children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system. We hope this read gives you a few moments of hopefulness and a sense of possibility.
If there's something you'd like to see here, shoot us an email. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff in Child Welfare? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do.
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Bucks County Gains a ‘Visit House,’ Enabling Foster Children and Their Parents to Reconnect |
A new facility has recently opened in Bucks County, PA, that provides a convenient site for parents to visit with their children who are placed in foster care. At the “visit house”, parents and children can re-acclimate and families can access services and meet with social workers. Marjorie McKeone, Director of the Bucks County Children & Youth Social Services Agency, said, “It took years of planning, but we’re thrilled to finally make this option available. We always want to assist and support our families.”
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Changing Lives With Coffee – Downtown Stockton Café Offers Employment to Foster Youth |
A new coffee shop opened last year in Stockton, CA, employing only young adults leaving the foster care system. The café, “Plaza Perks,” stands out among its competitors in Stockton’s busy downtown district due to this unique purpose. Last year, Parents by Choice, an organization serving the needs of children in the child welfare system, bought the café, and a former volunteer has signed on to serve as the café manager. The job opportunity to work as a barista is available to foster youth in the Parents by Choice transitional housing program. 20-year-old Margarete Polak-Youmans is the lead barista and credits Plaza Perks with providing stability and job training. “Thanks to this program, I've been able to get my own apartment, get a paycheck. This is my first job,” she said.
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A Home in Search of a Family: Non-Profits Build House for Licensed Foster Families |
Two non-profits, Fostering Hopes and H3 Collective, have teamed up to build a professional foster parenting home in a Western North Carolina County that has a great need for foster parents. A 5-bedroom, 3,600 square foot house is being constructed for a licensed foster parent couple who will live in the home with the focus of providing a much-needed home for 5-6 foster children in Buncombe County, NC. Adam Ponder of H3 Collective expressed a desire to have “…kids who come in to just sense a lot of hope and excitement and be proud of their home.”
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After Years of Dreaming, a Community of Tiny Homes for Vulnerable Youth is Becoming a Reality |
Desiree Cook, the Executive Director of I Am You 360, is passionate about helping vulnerable youth due to her own experience with homelessness, substance use, incarceration, and having her own children placed in foster care. Each year, her organization provides more than 4,000 Arizona youth and young adults who are in foster or kinship care, or are experiencing homelessness, with life-skills trainings, mentorship, and safe housing opportunities. Last year, I Am You 360 began fundraising to build the Small Home Experience, a community of 10 tiny homes that will provide housing to 9 youth with the final home acting as a community center for trainings, meetings and behavioral health sessions. Residents will pay rent into savings accounts which can be used for a future down payment on a house of their own. Construction is expected to start this month with the homes opening in seven months. Cook says the tiny home community historical, not only in its mission, but it will be environmentally-friendly and is African American-led.
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Share the Spirit: Beyond Emancipation Helps Young People Aging Out of Foster Care |
Beyond Emancipation (B.E.) is an Oakland, CA nonprofit that offers a range of services to support current and former foster youth in their transition to living as independent adults in Alameda County. In Alameda County, between 300 and 400 young people leave foster care annually, according to Beyond Emancipation’s website. Jessica Mi is one recipient of the services provided by B.E. As a current graduate student, she received resources from B.E. to pay for her textbooks at Stanford, in addition to money to fuel her car, life coaching services, and emotional support as she grew from a teenager to an adult. B.E., one of 56 nonprofit agencies selected to receive funding from Share the Spirit, an annual holiday campaign from the Bay Area News Group that helps residents in need in the East Bay, will continue to provide and expand their programs providing housing, education, and employment support.
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State Funds $1 Million Grant to Aid Foster Youth, Sex-Traffic Victims |
Last month, Governor Abbott of Texas designated $1 million for a two-year pilot program of the “Texas Talent Connection” Grants. The grants will serve youth and young adults ages 16-25 who are or were in foster care or are victims of sex trafficking. The Texas Talent Connection program will be implemented by local workforce development boards and foster youth transition centers with the goal of aiding participants in finding and maintaining employment leading to independence and self-sufficiency. Staff and employers will be trained on working with vulnerable individuals and participants will receive career readiness training and coaching, referrals, training and support services, and employment connections.
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Red Lake Nation Recognized for ‘Decolonized’ Approach to Child and Family Services |
Last month, Red Lake Nation and Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog (formerly Red Lake Family and Children’s Services) was honored with a Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner’s Circle of Excellence Award for its innovative work adapting services to meet the needs of the people in their community. The new approach centers intergenerational family wellness, focuses on keeping families together by looking at their strength and resiliency through a Native lens, and adjusts language; instead of calling people the tribe serves as “clients,” it calls them “relatives.” Foster parents are “relative care community service providers,” and case management is now called “reunification services.” Cheri Goodwin, Executive Director of Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog says, “We follow the state guidelines, but at the end of the day these are our kids, our families. We’ll do it our way.”
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Pasadena Community Foundation Announces $10 Million Gift, Its Largest Ever |
A historic gift was recently received by a Pasadena, CA nonprofit to fund a program that will provide critical support for local youth transitioning out of foster care. The gift of $10 million from the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation is the largest donation ever received by the Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF). PCF will establish the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Scholarship Endowment for Transition Age Foster Youth. The Petersen Scholars Program, created with the endowment, will support youth with an interest in pursuing career and technical education or vocational training and will “help improve lives by empowering this population of young people to achieve dignity and economic independence through education, training, and sustainable employment”.
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The Field Center team would like to thank the staff and students who brought this newsletter together. We are grateful to MSW student Richard Wren for his contributions in providing readers with this uplifting content. Many thanks to our Program Manager Sarah Wasch for editing and our Administrative Coordinator Felicia Saunders for handling design and distribution. Special thanks to our Managing Faculty Director, Dr. Johanna Greeson for her idea to curate the “good news stories” happening in child welfare! |
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