The Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in St. Louis, Missouri got inspired by the show Extreme Makeovers and thought, why not "extreme recruitment" for youth in foster care? Thus, Extreme Recruitment was created. In Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a house is build in a week through the efforts of professionals and volunteers working together to [...]
[Photo by Samantha Sais for Reuters] A few weeks ago, Reuters journalist Megan Twohey's in-depth investigative report about rehoming in adoption was big news in the adoption world, particularly for those interested in intercountry adoption. The five part series included: Part 1: The NetworkPart 2: The DangersPart 3: The MiddlemenPart 4: The FailuresPart 5: The [...]
We are back to our regular posting. The lack of posting on our Stability, Permanency and Adoption (SPA) blog the last two weeks was a result of our blog writer's trip to Russia to attend the 3rd Russian American Child Welfare Forum. To see what CASCW was doing there, here is a link to the [...]
Ra'Shede Hageman, defensive tackle for the University of Minnesota Gophers football team, knows about strength and resilience - and not just on the football field. After being removed from his mother, Ra'Shede and his brother were placed in foster care. After twelve foster homes, Ra'Shede had a natural distrust for people. [Photo by Jerry Holt] [...]
In our last blog post we highlighted a film about a family, the Wilson's, and the director's commentary about the cycle of violence, poverty, drugs and interaction with the child welfare system intergenerationally and how difficult it is to break that cycle. Today we'd like to let you know about some of the other stories [...]
Filmmkaer Kathryn Hunt is interested in telling the stories of people on the margins. In this piece for Crosscut, Hunt writes that the people in her films "were tangled up with three social institutions that rarely touch the lucky rest of us: foster care, criminal justice (courts and prisons), and what we used to call [...]
Actor, playwright and composer Patrick Burns brings his personal story of resilience and tragedy to the stage. In "From Foster Care to Fabulous" Burns brings the audience along with him through four foster families he lived with as a teenager. You can watch a trailer for his show below: Learn more about Patrick Burns on [...]
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adopioin has announced its list of the 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in the U.S. This is the seventh annual list. Among the criteria the foundation uses to detrmine its ranking includes adoption benefits (the amount of financial reimbursement and paid leave for families that adopt), company programs that encourage and [...]