Blog4 Enlisting & Providing Support

•   My questions I have for my colleagues are, do you know any foster care centers that need and advocate to volunteer at their Association. How many people/children are there? Can anyone send me some resources for teaching foster children who have behavior problems. I went to the library and found about different placing to go for There are so many kids that are waiting in foster care. Most of them are good kids that are just looking for a chance to grow, learn and live a good life. Yet, there is nothing that can be done to change many of their situations. Their lives have been disrupted. They are often unstable. This is where a foster parent can make all of the difference. When a child's needs become the focus of somebody in their lives- they have a better chance of making decisions that reflect it. The expectation that children will be able to redirect themselves and make proper decisions without a positive adult in their circle is not fair. Without the proper training and encouragement, wisdom is not… This is where a foster parent can make all of the difference. When a child’s needs become the focus of somebody in their lives- they have a better chance of making decisions that reflect it. The expectation that children will be able to redirect themselves and make proper decisions without a positive adult in their circle is not fair. Without the proper training and encouragement, wisdom is not possible.
• Child Welfare Outcomes Report Data Site - The data included on this site are the State context and outcomes data that are found in the State Data Pages within the full reports. The site also includes national statistics that are calculated using State-level data. The data site currently includes data for 2006 through 2009, using data available as of the following dates:
• 2006, 2007, 2008 AFCARS data: November 19, 2009
• 2009 AFCARS data: January 19, 2010
• 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 NCANDS data: June 18, 2010
• 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Census data: June 18, 2010
• 2007, 2008, 2009 Caseworker Visits data: June 18, 2010
• A Report to Congress on States' Use of Waivers of Non-Safety Licensing Standards for Relative Foster Family Homes (PDF - 277 KB) - Describes States' data on the number of children in foster care placed in relative foster family homes, a description and assessment of the types of non-safety licensing standards waived; and States' strategies for increasing licensing among relative caregivers.
• Legislative Brief: Child Welfare Caseworker Visits with Children and Parents - Presents background information about caseworker visits, including the elements that comprise quality visits. It also offers questions that legislators and their staff can use to facilitate a dialogue about caseworker visits with their child welfare agency administrators. (PDF - 344 KB)
• State Child Welfare Legislation: 2005 - Describes some of the State legislation related to child welfare issues that was enacted during calendar year 2005. It includes citations and summaries of specific child-welfare-related laws in each State. (PDF - 875 KB)
• Focusing on Child Welfare Systems: Collaborating With State Legislators on Reform This report offers State child welfare agency administrators information on effective strategies for using the child and family services reviews to work more closely with legislators to improve child welfare systems. This report covers the importance of legislative engagement in child welfare and strategies for building partnerships with State legislators and engaging them in the reviews.
• The Child and Family Services Reviews: The Role of State Legislators and Focusing on Child Welfare Systems: The Role of State Legislators - This report offers legislators information on using the CFSRs to enhance their role in supporting State child welfare agency administrators in creating effective child welfare policies and practices. The reports discuss the CFSRs as a resource for legislators, and offer strategies that legislators can use to become involved in the reviews. The report is also available in a three-page brief format.
• Comprehensive Family Assessment Guidelines for Child Welfare - These guidelines address the components of comprehensive family assessment, show the linkages to service planning and service provision, and illustrate how child welfare agencies can support their use. These guidelines are provided as an initial framework to facilitate efforts to move the child welfare community towards comprehensive assessment as a best practice. (PDF - 301 KB)
• Section 11. Child Protection, Foster Care, and Adoption Assistance (2008 Green Book) (PDF - 2,761 KB) - The House Ways and Means Committee Green Book provides program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics. This section focuses on child welfare.
• Progress Report to Congress on Conducting A Study of Performance-Based Financial Incentives in Child Welfare - This report presents issues relevant to the development of outcome measures and performance-based incentives as mandated by ASFA (12/1998)

Back to Top

Children's Bureau-Funded Research

The Children's Bureau funds research in collaboration with other organizations.

• A Report to Congress on Barriers and Success Factors in Adoptions from Foster Care: Perspectives of Families and Staff Supported by the Adoption Opportunities Program - Outlines the findings of two adoption-research studies conducted as part of The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. The studies identified the child, family, and agency factors that presented as barriers or promoters of successful adoptions from foster care. (PDF - 909 KB)
• A Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care - Describes the nature, scope, and impact of interjurisdictional adoption placement efforts and the strategies that improve outcomes for children in foster care who are placed for adoption in other jurisdictions. (PDF - 218 KB)
• Chafee Independent Living Evaluation Project - The goal of this Project is to identify programs that can be rigorously evaluated and ultimately determine the effects of Independent Living Programs funded under CFCIP in achieving key outcomes for participating youth. This evaluation was called for in the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999.
• Child Welfare Systems' Responses to Children of Color - This ongoing research project was funded to review research examining the child welfare system's response to children of color, to identify programs and practices that address perceived racial or cultural disparities within the system, and to pilot intensive qualitative observational studies on policies and practices related to services for children of color in the child welfare system.
• Family Preservation and Family Support Services Program (FP/FS) - This study evaluates how States and communities implemented the FP/FS program, the ways in which program implementation altered the pre-existing service delivery system, and the effects this had on service delivery.
• Feasibility of Evaluating the State Court Improvement Program Volume I: Final Report (PDF - 300 KB): and
  Feasibility of Evaluating the State Court Improvement Program Volume II: Evaluability Assessment Site Visit Summaries (PDF - 670 KB) - These evaluability assessments were completed through a contract awarded in the Fall of 2001 by the Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to determine the feasibility of evaluating state Court Improvement Program (CIP) projects.
• Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) - A Report to Congress is now available from the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. The NIS–4 was mandated by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-36). The study provides updated estimates of the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States, measures changes in these estimates from earlier studies, and examines the incidence of child maltreatment in relation to various subgroups defined by the child's characteristics and family or household characteristics.
• LONGSCAN reports - The website of the Consortium of Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) provides information about the study, sample demographics, measures utilized, and more.
• Implementation of Promoting Safe and Stable Families by Indian Tribes (PSSF) - The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which Indian Tribes use funds received under title IV-B, subpart 2 to provide services that strengthen families' abilities to care for their children.
• National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) - To learn what happens to the children and families who come in contact with the child welfare system, the Children's Bureau of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has undertaken the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW).
• Terminating the Parental Rights of Older Children (TPR) - This Project provides a descriptive study of the effects of the termination of parental rights on older foster youths' foster care and adoptive experiences.

Back to Top

Other Related Links

• CBX Video - View here to find out more about the Children's Bureau's online digest.
• Abuse, Neglect, Adoption & Foster Care Research - The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) within ACF conducts and oversees research focused on child abuse, neglect, adoption, and foster care to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of programs and improve the well-being of children and families. OPRE projects include the Chafee Independent Living Evaluation Project, National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, and A Consortium of Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect.
• National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) - The mission of NDACAN is to facilitate the secondary analysis of research data relevant to the study of child abuse and neglect. By making data available to a larger number of researchers, NDACAN seeks to provide a relatively inexpensive and scientifically productive means for researchers to explore important issues in the child maltreatment field.
• CFSP/APSR Toolkit - This toolkit is a central location for technical assistance documents and materials, as well as references to specific laws, policies, and checklists, that relate to the development of the State and Tribal Child and Family Service Plan (CFSP) and Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR).
• Methamphetamine: The Child Welfare Impact and Response — Conference Proceedings - Proceedings from the May 2006 Children's Bureau conference on Methamphetamines and the impact of the drug on children and families, held in partnership with SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Child Care Bureau.
• Federal and State Reporting Systems - Information on the Children's Bureau Federal and State reporting systems, which provide data to monitor and improve child welfare outcomes.
• Child Welfare Monitoring - Information on the programs provided by the Children's Bureau that monitor State child welfare services, including the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), and the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) Assessment Reviews. 
• These are resources that can help me in creating a great presentation.

My Presentation

Hello Friends I want to say that I have gained so much from this internship and I want to thank Marsha Hawley for being a great teacher. On Saturday I gave my presentation, I was so scared. When I started my presentation my heart was racing, my hands were shaking but I was able to get through with it. After the first five minutes of my presentation i started to relax and clam down. Everyone seem to enjoy my presentation and I felt good about it. I feel that the information I shared would be helpful and can benefit teachers and parents. I have learned how to be an advocate. I have gained a great relationship with my Foster parents from being an advocate. It feel so good to be able to say I made a difference in the lives of the foster parents and children. This internship was very challenging and exciting to me. I learned things that I didn't know, I met a lot of important people that can benefit me in the future. I want to thank all my classmates that  have supported me during this class.

Become a child Advocate

 

   Child advocates are the main support group for abandoned and abused children living in the custody of the child welfare system. Advocates work to protect children's rights and serve as a public voice for children's needs. Do you have what it takes to become a child advocate?
Degrees for Child Advocates
Some child advocates work as volunteers, but to work full time in foster care, a bachelor's degree in social work can prove advantageous. For management positions, earning a master's degree in social work (MSW) may be required along with state licensing.
Preparing for Child Advocate Work
A number of people work to make the foster care system effective, from child advocates to foster care families. Gaining experience and training in some of the following areas can prove advantageous for child advocates:

• Mental health and education issues relevant to children
• Health care services for children in need
• Communicating with parents caring for disabled or disadvantaged children
• Court system rulings regarding foster children

If you want to help disadvantaged children find stability in a healthy home environment, consider working as a child advocate to touch lives in the best possible way. You can look under foster care services or ecoming an advocate, there are so many resources> I want you to feel the way I feel by being an advocate.

"My Heart Is Heavy I care"

Attachment Disorders
Many Foster Children have had very difficult and painful histories with their first parents. These children have experienced chronic early maltreatment within a caregiver relationship. Such a history can lead to the development of Complex Trauma, disorders of attachment, and Reactive Attachment Disorder. Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems.
Attachment is the deep and lasting connection established between a child and caregiver in the first few years of life. It profoundly affects your child’s development and his or her ability to express emotions and develop relationships.
A child with insecure attachment or an attachment disorder doesn’t have the skills necessary to build meaningful relationships. However, with the right tools, and a healthy dose of time, effort, patience, and love, it is possible to treat and repair attachment difficulties.  Between 50% and 80% of children place in Foster Care have attachment disorder symptoms. Many of these children are violent and aggressive, and as adults are at risk of developing a variety of psychological problems and personality disorders, including antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and psychopathic personality disorder. Therapeutic Parenting is often necessary to help these children heal. The reason why I'm talking about this is because there are so many children I have in my classroom they are xperiencing these things. this is why I'm saying that when children are taken from their parents they need to be placed into therapy treatments before they are placed in any childcare classroom. I have to express that when there are several children who face these type of things and worst. And someone have to step up and be the voice to make a change, and I'm welling to do that.

Discussion4Researching & Sharing

    My plans are to find strategies to help reduce the number of foster children in head start. Another priority Strategies is the support, development, and nurturing of case workers who serve in the foster care system. I feel that there are so many ways that I could get the social media to play a big part in my Advocacy for foster children. First of all I could start a face book page for advocating for foster children, I could provide resources about volunteering in foster care centers and homes. My space, Twitter, Blogger, You Tube, EBay, Good Reads, Live Journal, Net Log, Slides Share, Buzz net, About Me. There are so many social media sites that I could start on for sending out my message for advocacy. By using these social media sites I could send my message across the world and receive impute from other people that are advocating for the same thing that I’m advocating for. This could help me to enhance my strategies and help me succeed with my plan to help childcare classrooms to succeed with foster children in their classrooms.

  There is growing recognition that a complementary strategy is needed, one focused on ensuring all foster youth receive the educational opportunities they are promised on paper. This strategy focuses on providing educational advocates to individual foster youth. Most children have parents who serve as their educational advocate, attending parent-teacher conferences, returning teacher phone calls, ensuring enrollment in appropriate classes, and generally making sure their children receive a high quality education. Foster youth frequently lack such educational advocacy. Without an educational advocate many foster children are unable to access appropriate educational opportunities. With numerous adults responsible for a foster child’s well-being and success, it is imperative that anyone be able to refer a child to their local education advocacy system. An educational issue might be identified by a foster parent, relative, teacher, judge, child welfare worker, court-appointed special advocate, or group home staff. Making the education advocacy system available to all of these stakeholders ensures that the maximum number of issues will be resolved and the most foster youth serve. I’m trying to help prevent classroom with children in head start program that have too many foster children with behavior issues inside of one classroom.

  I feel that the Challenge that I’m facing in presenting this presentation would be the Foster Parents because they don’t understand what is happening inside the classroom with the foster children they have. The reason is they do not volunteer in the program because I have found that most foster parents are in it because of the money and a place to stay. And they seem to not care about the well being of the child. Most foster Parents just bring their foster children to school, with behavior issues, ADHD, Social Emotional Issue, mentally retardation and many other problems. But these Parents are not concern about how these children are affecting the classroom. So when I give speak on all the problems that has been happening in the classroom, and how the teacher is un-able to teach, how other children are getting hurt because of the behaviors of the Foster children, I have to say I’m not blaming the child because it is not their fault, but I will blame the Social worker, lawyers, biological Parents, Present of SOS villages, because before these children are placed in childcare they need to be fully assist because it is unfair that they are taken from their homes and place with strangers and they can’t cope because of the disabilities that they have occurred from being abused, rapped and many other bad things to happen to them.,

Discussion3BPolicy makes and Advocacy

  When you advocate for others, you represent the needs and hopes of people to develop and make change in your community. This doesn’t just help the people in need, it improves your entire community, and this is so true because when we talk about foster children they need so much to succeed. When the questions is asked who would you not want to target, I would have to say that I feel that everyone could be a target, because everyone can play a part in being an advocate for foster children. When trying to help others it always seems to be a hard task before you start advocating. The people I need to target are the President of the YMCA, the Present of children villages (S.O.S) also the Director, disability specialist, of the YMCA. The social workers at S.O.S villages. These people are responsible for making a change or can be the voice to help make a change. I need for the president of the YMCA to understand that when you think about bringing in the dollars for children that need special care, you have to think about the teachers at your center not does not have the educational back ground to provide services for these children. When a classroom has over 3 Foster children and they all have behavior issues that can cause a big problem. The Director need to provide resources and trainings for the teachers to provide the help for these children. There is no reason why I should have over 7 Foster children in my classroom who have sever behavior issues ADHD, Developmentally delay problems and more. How does a classroom function with this problem? How would the classroom management be? How would this affect the other children in the classroom? I would tell you the classroom management would be un-controllable, the teachers would be stressed out, and the other children in the classroom would be at risk of getting hurt and not receive the attention they deserve. These are the things that I have been going through since I became the teacher in a classroom with over 7 Foster children that have been beaten, rapped, and other things that you can only imagine. Before placing children in a classroom with these types of problems I feel that you should make sure that they receive the help they need before being placed.

Discussion3a. Learning to be a strategic Advocate

   Activities allow students to experience new things and to express their feelings. Using activities can: Help educators reach students who may benefit from a more hands-on or practical learning experience.  Allow students to become actively involved in the learning process. Encourage students to critically think about and analyze information themselves, rather than being passive recipient Consider teaching techniques that increase the success and effectiveness of the activity. Encouraging all students to participate (especially during discussion). Plan adequate time to process the activity. Ask open-ended questions. Foster a feeling of emotional safety in your classroom by respecting every student's opinion encouraging all students to be respectful of one another.

     Supporting young children's language, culture, and abilities is an integral part of direct services for children and families. Child care program providers are increasingly serving more families and children whose language, culture, and abilities are different from their own. Providers are faced with meeting the diverse needs of children and families from diverse language and cultural backgrounds and children with special needs. This has led many States and local agencies to develop child care infrastructures that are responsive and inclusive to children and families from diverse language, cultures, and abilities.

  Working with foster children it might be hard to try to make sure that you as an educator are meeting their needs. I work very hard daily with the Foster children in my classroom to make sure that the materials, activities are developmentally appropriate for them.