The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Foster Youth Internship Report, Hear Me Now, has just been released. The Foster Youth Internship program, created in 2003, provides opportunities for formerly fostered young adults to become congressional interns, where they learn about policies and the legislative process on foster care and adoption. The Foster Youth Internship program [...]
A while back I blogged about food issues among children that have experienced foster care, institutionalization and adoption. I was recently at a conference and saw this wonderful resource created by the SPOON Foundation called Adoption Nutrition: A Starter Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents. This guide provides helpful information and hints about common nutrient [...]
As the recent AFCARS figures show, approximately 22% of the children in the U.S. waiting for adoption are Hispanic (of all races). According to a recent report by the Casey Latino Leadership Group, the number of children in care more than doubled over the past 20 years, and issues such as deportation laws are a [...]
The Surrey County Council (in the UK) is now offering the same maternity pay as birth mothers to adoptive mothers, in order to allow them time off to bond with their children without suffering financial hardship. At the same time, this move is also seen as a way to remove barriers to adoption and thus [...]
The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) is looking for submissions for their 39th annual conference, to be held in Toronto, Ontario next August 7-10, 2013. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, November 2, 2012. From the NACAC website: NACAC encourages adoptive and foster parents, child welfare professionals, adoptees, birth parents, former foster youth, [...]
The Children's Bureau released a new Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) report for 2011 (October 1-September 30, 2011). According to the report: In 2011, there was a continued trend toward fewer children waiting for adoption (104,236 children, down from 109,456 in 2010 and from 133,682 in 2007).During the reporting period, parental [...]
As of August 1, the new Safe Place for Newborns law in Minnesota went into effect. Since 2000, Minnesota has had a Safe Place for Newborns law that allowed a mother (or her official representative) to bring her newborn infant to a hospital within 3 days of birth for the purpose of relinquishing her rights [...]
For many children in foster care or those adopted from foster care, being separated from one or more sibling is unfortunately a common experience. Although the sibling relationship is the longest relationship any person will have to another family member, about 70% of the children in foster care also have another sibling in care. Because [...]