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NIPFC Permanency Blast
September 2020
Happy September! 

Conference season is upon us, and much of our content centers on sharing these announcements and to encourage you to connect with your colleagues, especially since we are all so limited in our ability for face to face contact at present.

 
We first forward an article from the Miami Herald about Seneca's Todo Por Mi Familia program, along with the most recent update from the program itself.
 
We then include the announcements to Kempe Center's Conference "A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare held on October 5-8. REGISTRATION is OPEN. PLEASE REGISTER ASAP!  NIPFC will have a significant presence at the conference and will be leading two workshops and four circles.  More specifically

  • NIPFC Senior Permanency Trainer Kelly Lynn Beck will co-host a session with Joey Cordero, "Enhancing our Response to Fathers, one dad at a time", on Thursday October 8 from 2:45-3:45p PT. 
  • Also at that time, Senior Permanency Trainer Mike Mertz will co-host a session with NIPFC Director Bob Friend, "What Child Welfare Supervisors can and must do to ensure Families are Mattered and Involved." 
  • Kelly and Joey will co-host a circle on Monday 12:45-1:30p  PT, "Enhancing our Response to Fathers; Practical Engagement Strategies". 
  • Mike and Bob will co-host a circle on Tuesday 4-4:45p PT "Supervising Family Engagement Practice." 
  • Bob will also host two Virtual Café's, on Tuesday from 7:45-8:30p PT and on Wednesday from 1:45-2:30p PT to talk about our defining moments--why we are coalescing to change child welfare. With people's permission, Bob will convert parts of the recorded conversation into podcasts.
 
We also include a conference announcement to The New Normal: LGBTQ+ Youth Living Through COVID-19, a two-day virtual symposium dedicated to addressing the challenges LGBTQ+ youth are facing during this pandemic, hosted by The Institute for Innovation and Implementation, along with the Philadelphia Coalition for Queer Justice and Intersectional Equity.
 
Finally we share a recently published article   written by Cathy Krebs, It's Not Enough to Mean Well: The Child Welfare System is Racist, Even if Most Professionals Think They Are Not
 
As always, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, "Let's Have a Conversation" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcasting service.  If you have colleagues who are newer to the field and are not yet familiar with the history of Family Finding or recent engagement/involvement efforts in Child Welfare, let them know as well.  Supervisors find that they can use these podcasts as valuable onboarding activities for their newly hired staff.  We plan to release more podcasts very soon!

 
Happy Listening and Reading!
Updates on the Todo Por Mi Familia Project

The Todo Por Mi Familia project will implement the preliminary injunction issued by the court to provide services to immigrant families separated at the US-Mexico border as a result of the Government's Zero Tolerance Policy. As we mentioned in our previous blasts that this project that would include finding and connecting with all the families who were separated and reunified, assessing their interest and need for mental health services, and coordinating referrals to local mental health agencies.
 
A few updates:
  • We've connected directly with almost 400 families by phone
  • About 58% of families we speak to request mental health services for themselves and their children. 
  • We have linked families to mental health services in 32 states

Check out the newly launched Instagram page for the 

Todo Por Mi Familia Project! 


 View on Instagram


Check out the this article connected to the Todo Por Mi Familia Project: 

Save Your Spot Today!

The Institute and the Philadelphia Coalition for Queer Justice and Intersectional Equity will host The New Normal: LGBTQ+ Youth Living Through COVID-19, a two-day virtual symposium dedicated to addressing the challenges LGBTQ+ youth are facing during this pandemic.
 
For many young people, adjusting to this "New Normal" has increased their stress and anxiety levels, especially for LGBTQ+ youth who are already at a greater risk for suicide and depression. Research has shown that many LGBTQ+ young people struggle with loneliness and isolation due to limited access to affirm mental health services and community programs. 
 
This virtual experience provides participants access to forward-thinking exchanges and panel discussions with child welfare workers, medical professionals, prevention workers, mentors, and executives from a variety of disciplines.


It's Not Enough to Mean Well: The Child Welfare System is Racist, Even if Most Professionals Think They Are Not

"I can't breathe."

These words are now painfully familiar. They were the last words of George Floyd who died on May 25, when a police officer pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as well as Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by New York City police. They were also the final words of a boy who died 24 days before Floyd, not at the hands of law enforcement, but at the hands of a child welfare provider. 

Cornelius Frederick was a 16-year old Black youth who was in state custody through the foster care system in Michigan. Rather than placing Cornelius in a family foster home, he was placed in a group care facility, a fate that disproportionately falls on Black children in this system.
On April 29, Cornelius made the fatal error of throwing a sandwich. The response by a group home employee was to restrain him by sitting on him for 12 minutes. 
The death of George Floyd rightly has our country questioning the impact of racism in our law enforcement systems and structures, even leading some to wonder if law enforcement should be radically restructured to address the underlying issues. The death of Cornelius Frederick has not received the same level of national attention, but it should. And it should prompt a similar national conversation about the structural and institutional racism in our child welfare systems. 


Check out the website The Imprint for the full article: Click for access

Let's Have A Conversation

Please subscribe to our signature podcast, Let's Have a Conversation, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and your favorite podcasting sites. 
 
Let us know how we're doing. Rate our episodes and leave us comments!  Suggest ideas for future pods (We have plan for a series of pods in the very near future!).




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To view an archive of our previous Blasts, Click Here!
National Institute for Permanent Family Connectedness
8945 Golf Links Road, Oakland, CA 94605 ● 888-839-9760