Walk Me Home ... To The Place I Belong

by Corrie Lynne Player

Foster parents today are part of a great support system that keeps families together -- to love and nurture children while their biological parents have a chance to learn or be rehabilitated. If rehabilitation isn’t possible, foster parents either support the search for kinship care or adopt the children they love unconditionally.

Experts agree that if enough effective foster homes are found now, future needs for prisons and police will be reduced. More victimized children will be salvaged and turned to thriving, happy lives.

As a long-term foster/adopt parent and vice president of the National Foster Parent Association (NFPA)’s Region 8, I want everybody to know that fostering is a uniquely satisfying job, as are all jobs associated in any way with foster families.

I also want to invite you, my family, friends and colleagues to help raise awareness about the needs of foster children and the homes that help them not just survive awful situations but thrive.

Have you registered for the 2014 virtual walk yet?

http://www.firstgiving.com/walkmehome/Nfpa2014

Thank you, foster parents!

By Irene Clements

Please join the National Foster Parent Association in celebrating National Foster Care Month by honoring the dedicated foster families across the country and celebrating the amazing children/youth who, through no fault of their own, are experiencing foster care services.

Children and youth who are placed into foster care are there due to significant abuse and neglect and cannot be safe in their own homes. Foster families step up to provide the love and healing these resilient children/youth need and deserve. Foster families and caseworkers, along with educators, therapists, CASAs, judges and others, work as a team to help families reunite when possible and when not possible, they help each child find permanency as soon as the child is ready. Every child deserves a forever family to rely on as they grow and mature.

Congratulations and thank you to foster parents who, according to one former foster youth, Rhonda Sciortino, provide "big-hearted, radical hospitality to each child they welcome into their family." Vera Fahlberg, a well-known child development expert and advocate stated: “Every child deserves an irrational advocate.”

Will you step up and consider becoming a member of this very honorable group of people -- foster parents? Look around in your home town or community and join in the celebrations. Perhaps next year, the celebration will be for you, too.

Irene is the president of the National Foster Parent Association.

Join us May 24 for the virtual walk!

http://www.firstgiving.com/walkmehome/Nfpa2014

Sign up by May 1 to get T-shirt for walk!

http://www.firstgiving.com/walkmehome/Nfpa2014

Join us May 24 for Walk Me Home virtual walk

http://www.firstgiving.com/walkmehome/Nfpa2014

Nominate your peers for our NFPA awards!

We're looking for a few good people who have gone beyond the call of duty to improve the world of foster care. Do you know someone in your family, your neighborhood, your city or your state who deserves to be honored? Nominate them for an NFPA award!

Our 2014 award categories are:

NFPA Foster Family of the Year Award
The Foster Family of the Year Award recognizes a foster family that has gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the safety, permanence and well-being for the children in their care.

NFPA State Association of the Year Award
The State Association of the Year Award recognizes an NFPA state affiliate that has provided extraordinary service and resources to the families it serves.

NFPA Local Association of the Year Award
The Local Association of the Year Award recognizes an NFPA local affiliate that has provided extraordinary service and resources to the families it serves.

NFPA Advocate of the Year Award
The Advocate of the Year Award recognizes a recipient (person or organization) who has made outstanding strides to advocate for foster parents and/or children in care.

NFPA Social Worker of the Year Award
The Social Worker of the Year Award recognizes an exceptional direct services worker in a public or private child-placing agency.

Gordon Evans Merit Award for Service to NFPA
The Gordon Evans Merit Award for Service to NFPA, selected by the Board of Directors, recognizes an NFPA board member for noteworthy service to NFPA.


The awards will be presented at the NFPA/FSFAPA National Conference June 5-8, 2014 in Orlando, Florida, and NFPA will waive conference fees for award winners to attend workshops and events. Find out more on our conference page or go directly to the award nominations page.

Deadline is March 28.

Help us identify media that portrays foster parents in a negative light

NFPA, along with North American Council on Adoptable Children and Generations United, is working on a grant to help state and local associations to better meet the needs of foster, adoptive and kinship caregivers. The grant will help us advocate for better laws, policies and practices, and help us improve the image of foster parents and foster care in general.

One of the components of the grant is to obtain an accurate picture of what people are producing, writing and filming in regard to foster care and foster parents. We need to identify television shows and/or movies that have portrayed foster parents/foster families in a negative perspective.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November is National Adoption Month

by Irene Clements

Raising public awareness of the over 100,000 children living in foster care who are waiting for their very own permanent family is top priority during National Adoption Month. Of course, time is also taken to celebrate and honor those families who adopt children from the foster care system. Special thanks from the National Foster Parent Association to all the foster parents who also choose to adopt the children in their homes or other children from the foster care system.

Need input from foster parents on sex trafficking and re-homing

Dear NFPA Board and Council of State Affiliates members and NFPA members,

NFPA (and our State Affiliates) have been asked by the staff of the Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee in Washington, DC, to provide information on two very important topics: sex trafficking of youth in foster care and re-homing. The Committees is and will continue to address each of the following topics and wants input from foster parents and child advocates on both.  Please send your comments to me at iclements@NFPAonline.org as I have agreed to gather the comments and provide them to the Committee staff.

NFPA president to appear on 'Foster Talk with Dr. John'

NFPA's president Irene Clements has the honor of being the first guest on the new Foster Talk with Dr. John, America's only radio program dedicated to foster care.

"NFPA is happy to support John in his efforts to bring awareness to foster care issues," said Irene. "He was at a Texas conference this past weekend and did a wonderful job for our attendees, and I look forward to spending some time with him Monday on the show."

Listen in on Monday, October 21 at 8 p.m. EST as Irene and Dr. John DeGarmo discuss NFPA and the latest issues in foster care.

You can also call in to speak with Dr. John during the show at 347.996.3187.

Show your support for National Foster Care Month

Blue Ribbon Showcase

The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) is a proud supporter of National Foster Care Month. And you should be too! 

Start now to develop creative ideas to promote National Foster Care Month this May. You can tie blue ribbons around a tree, on your mailbox, in a door wreath or any other place it will be noticed.

Take a photo of your showcase and send it in. NFPA will display your works of art on this blog, Facebook and Twitter feeds and you could enter the showcase to win $100! 

Why doesn't the press cover foster care?

by David Sharp

There is always rhetoric in the press about so many things, for now it is guns!! I wish the children living in our nation's foster care system could get this kind of press. There are no "sides" to take and no big disagreement on how to fix the problem ... no, this issue's only enemy is awareness. If all these pro- and anti-guns folks were asked if we should help innocent and helpless orphans and abused children, they would all say "yes."

However, this issue is not interesting enough to the press because most people believe they are unaffected by it.

Ben Franklin once said, "For change to occur the unaffected must be as outraged as the affected." That statement is true as demonstrated by most of the comments we've seen lately.

Speaking up and out about children in care

by David Sharp, NFPA Public Policy Chair

If you have witnessed the day to day challenges of our nation's child welfare system within the context of foster care and want to know how you can help, read on...

The National Foster Parent Association's public policy committee works with its member associations, state and Congressional leaders, and the Administration to monitor public and private sector policies and promote action that will benefit vulnerable children and youths, their families, and their communities.

Consumers, advocates, and legislators must all become informed and take action on pending national and state changes to virtually all public assistance programs for poor children and their families, including income assistance, Medicaid, and housing support.

The following are suggested strategies that you and your local foster and adoptive parent association may want to use on a short-, or long-term basis. Choose strategies that you can do and believe will send the most effective message. Most importantly, keep plugging away! 

Your voice can make a difference.

Welcome to NFPA's 42nd annual conference!

Our families and supporters started arriving Thursday as NFPA's board met to gather committee and regional reports and to plan operations for the upcoming year. One immediate change in the board was the appointment of Pam Allen of Nebraska as Region 7 Vice President. Pam will finish Jodi Orton's term.

Should Hollywood be more responsible?

Dear Hollywood,
As parents, we are always sensitive to situations or people that can potentially bring harm to our children. This is even more so when we carry the title of "foster parent" or "adoptive parent." Movies and books that might be appropriate in a general setting can sometimes be a landmine for foster parents -- and adoptive parents of children who know they're adopted.

Recently parents have brought to our attention two movies that fall into that landmine category: "Three Stooges" and "Avengers."

After seeing the movie "Three Stooges," one mother shared that there are "a lot of bad remarks about adoption and foster care," and that one character says she refuses "to go to a house where people are paid to love her."

This might be innocent for some but for children in care, it can reinforce the "my life is bad because I'm in foster care" outlook.

In "Avengers," other parents have noted they could have done without one character's line in the movie. When the character Thor says, "He's adopted," in response to hearing his brother, a villain, has killed many people, it puts a bad taste in the mouth of adoptive parents. Imagine the potential hurt it could cause children who know that they are adopted.

The road traveled by children in care, through no fault of their own, is often filled with bumps, and as their caregivers, we tend to try extra hard to smooth the road, not add more potholes. Having said that, we're no prudes but it'd be nice to know -- from Hollywood -- beforehand if the "entertainment" we're viewing will cause discomfort for our children. Then we can do our part as parents and either decide not to view the movie with the children or have a "talk" prior to viewing to prepare them.

Let's work together on this.

Signed,
Concerned Foster and Adoptive Parents

Healthy Foster Care America

Did you know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has a Healthy Foster Care America section on its website tailored to foster care? 

The Healthy Foster Care America page is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children and teens in foster care through the following key features:

• Educational fact sheets
• Adaptable forms
• Guidance for professionals and families
• Subscription to the Healthy Foster Care America listserv
• Tips on how to advocate for the health needs of children and teens in foster care
• A Special Place for Children and Families portal

This section also has a resource library, which includes topics and materials related to the health issues and needs of children and teens in foster care.

Wonder #1: Loss and Grief

FosterParentCollege.com recently outlined seven commonly identified adoption issues, reframed from the child's point of view as "wonders," as researched by Betsy Keefer-Smalley, the director of foster care and adoption training at the Institute for Human Services in Ohio.

NFPA has gained permission to reprint these "wonders," along with some possible behaviors displayed by a child experiencing feelings associated with each of the issues.

Wonder #1: Loss and Grief
"I wonder why I lose everyone and everything that is important to me. What is the matter with me?"

Behaviors associated with this issue:

• Overreactions to real or perceived losses (death of a pet or grandparent, a friend moving away, school transitions, etc.)
• Difficulty with separations from foster or adoptive parents (school or day care, camp, sleepovers, parents' getaway or business trips, hospitalizations)
• Difficulty emancipating from the foster/adoptive home; attempts to delay emancipation through self-induced failure

Stay tuned tomorrow for Wonder #2...

Foster Parenting Toolbox to be released March 1

The Foster Parenting Toolbox is 464 pages of helpful information to foster parents in the trenches and any other professional who is part of the child's team.

Chapters include:

• Why Foster
• Perspectives
• Transitions
• Teamwork
• Birth Family Connections
• Loss, Grief and Anger
• Attachment and Trust
• Parenting Teens
• Allegations
• Respite and Support
• And many other issues...

Read more about the book here.

Publication date is March 1, 2012. EMK Press is offering a prepublication special of $10 off the cover price of $29.95. Use the coupon code FP10OFF on the EMK Press site by March 1.