Blog

We all have a role to play in making sure children have the opportunity to thrive. In Child Abuse and Neglect: What It Is and What to Do About It , you will learn more about the types of child maltreatment, what to do when you think a child or family needs more support, and how to make a report if you suspect that a child has been abused or neglected. We all want children to be safe and healthy. However, the heartbreaking reality is that every year thousands of children are victims of child...

By Elizabeth Amon, The Imprint, August 9, 2021 What unites the group of imprisoned men seeking change isn’t addiction recovery, making amends or anger management. Instead, it’s a shared childhood experience: foster care. “State-Raised” is the name of the group they’ve formed with the goal of disrupting the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Washington legislation passed this spring is designed to help that mission, the group’s founder Arthur Longworth said on a recent call from the Monroe...

Lisa Smith and her two daughters peer out the front windows of their Diamond Bar, California, home. “We were that anxious,” 49-year-old Smith says, recalling that afternoon in March. They see a car pull up, and hurry to the curb. Inside are the two boys the family has been waiting for. Smith immediately takes the younger boy, still a toddler, in her arms while her teenage daughter holds the hand of the older one. Newly expanded, the family, alongside a pair of social workers, walk into the...

A new report from Think of Us examines the experiences of foster youth who are placed in congregate care placements, such as group homes or residential treatment centers. The report uses stories, art, and other first-person accounts from foster youth to understand their day-to-day lives in these living arrangements. The experiences of these youth offer ideas for improving congregate care placements, and for alternatives to these placements that better support the development and well-being...

By Ashley A. Smith, EdSource, August 11, 2021 Just who is Daisy Gonzales, California’s new acting community colleges chancellor? Her journey, which she describes as an “incredible story,” may resonate with many of the system’s 2 million students. “I became aware that I was in foster care at the age of 4” she said. As a child, Gonzales grew up in a variety of places including group homes, child care facilities, and even with relatives. As she made her way, earning a Ph.D. and serving the last...

By Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2021 America’s largest child welfare system will soon test whether race, ethnicity or neighborhood can influence social workers’ decisions to remove children from their homes. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to support a pilot project that tests “blind removal,” first tried in Nassau County, N.Y. Social workers typically have access to an array of information, including a family’s race, when making the difficult...

English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance co-created “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe economic consequences resulting from...

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent announcement that New York City will invest millions in “family enrichment centers” sounds like a win for families. But this initiative should be reconsidered, and the city should start by listening to what families actually want. While the mayor’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity has it right that New York should invest in family support, Black and brown parents have been vocal opponents of programs funded and overseen by the child welfare system (ACS).

Every time we choose to love other mortal beings, someday, we will have to give them back. “Cute baby,” strangers said when they saw her. “Your first?” they asked. And when we told them she was our foster daughter, that we might have to return her to her biological mother, I watched them step back. “I couldn’t do that,” they said. “I’ll pray for you,” they said. I didn’t know if I could do it, either. But I also knew it’s what we do every time we choose to love another mortal being. Someday,...

By Sara Tiano, The Imprint, July 13, 2021 Los Angeles County leaders committed on Tuesday to test out “ colorblind removals ” in child welfare cases — an attempt to correct long-standing patterns that draw disproportionately more Black and brown children into foster care than their white peers. Beginning in November, one of the county’s 20 regional offices will operate a pilot program relying on the method, which was developed on New York’s Long Island more than a decade ago. In colorblind...

By Joaquin Palomino and Sara Tiano, The Imprint, July 19, 2021 California has banned the practice of sending foster youth and teens charged with crimes to faraway residential treatment programs, following an investigation by The Imprint and The San Francisco Chronicle into reports of violent abuse at some of these out-of-state campuses. The policy change, signed into law last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), commits $100 million over five years to create new programs closer to home for these...

From Fostering Media Connections, July 19, 2021 AN ONLINE CONVERSATION What Youth Wish Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Knew Join us for a conversation with former foster youth who are sharing their lived experiences and wisdom gained after navigating the child welfare system. What are caregivers doing right — or wrong? What do youth see in the foster care system that caregivers don't? And how can caregivers help youth on the journey toward healing trauma? Our panelists: Alexis...