Part of a permanency series featuring intersections of child welfare and mental health practice, voiced by PACC alumni
Compiled by Keely Vandre, MSW, LGSW, PACC Coordinator
The theme of this November’s National Adoption Month sponsored by the Children’s Bureau is Youth Voices, a segment of the permanency and adoption world that can often be marginalized. Building greater understanding of these experiences across child welfare and mental health professionals is at the heart of the Permanency and Adoption Competency Certificate (PACC) program. This blog highlights local and national effort to provide a platform for youth voices to help shape practice and policy.
PACC alumni Misty Coonce recently wrote on the topic of parent reunification as a form of permanency and lessons learned in her work at Ampersand Families, noting that for youth that have been in foster care for extended periods of time there may be situations where the reinstatement of parental rights under new legislative criteria creates a pathway toward permanency that may better honor the wishes of youth in foster care.
National transracial adoptee/activist Angela Tucker has built her career around telling the stories of adoptees through her film Closure documenting her reunification journey, and “Adopted Life” series designed “to elevate and normalize the adoptee voice and provide trustworthy open-source content to the public.” She was also recently featured on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk series in a candid conversation discussing the unique identity challenges facing transracial adoptees.
Parents and professionals also navigate how to honor youth experience, especially when telling the stories of unresolved grief and loss. PACC Alumni Ann Kent, psychotherapist, foster and adoptive parent imagines the wishes of one the children in her care:
“I wish people didn’t expect me to be grateful for my losses. I wish people answered me honestly when I asked questions, even when the answers are hard. I wish my story was protected, and that my identity wasn’t wrapped up in things outside of my control…a ‘foster kid.’ I wish people would have helped my family before I got dropped off in this strange house. I wish there was space for my grief…and maybe, eventually, joy. I wish people could tell me they hear me, even when I’m communicating with behaviors instead of my words.”
In Minnesota, older youth remain in foster care twice as long as younger children, on average waiting 805 days for permanency. Jaseana, 14, is featured in a recent MPR report describing that, after a failed kinship placement and remaining in foster care for six years, she began to distrust the process. “I really didn’t want to be adopted. And then my best friend at the time, she got adopted…she said she’s living a great life. And I said, ‘OK, maybe I want that.”
Adoption Month kick-off events this weekend include:
- Gathering for our Children and Returning Adoptees Pow Wow on Saturday, November 2nd at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, 1530 East Franklin Ave, Minneapolis – www.maicnet.org for directions. 1pm: Grand Entry 3pm: Wablenica Ceremony 5:30pm: Feast 8pm: Honor Song for Foster and Adoptive parents
- MN ADOPT’s Circus of the Heart on Sunday, Nov. 3 at the Minnesota Zoo, 13000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley, MN 55124.
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