If you missed it, Ampersand Families, a local agency in Minnesota, made an appearance on KFAI's Morning Blend show in February to discuss finding permanency for older youth in care - the teens. Ampersand Families focuses on recruitment and placement for this population. You can hear Jen Braun, co-founder and co-executive officer at Ampersand, discuss [...]
Among the losses that youth in foster care experience are those that most of us take for granted. For example, baby photos. Schools and even work places often have planned activities that ask people to bring in baby photos. Sometimes it's for a "guessing game" and sometimes just to share your early life. For youth [...]
The HuffPost Live blog aired a show on transracial adoption. Featured guests include an adult transracial adoptee, Rachel Noerdlinger, adoptive parent Mindy Smith, researcher Darron Smith and Toni Oliver from the National Association of Black Social Work (NABSW). You can watch the episode on the HuffPost Live website or below.
[Photo by Al Hartman, for the Salt Lake Tribune] Terry Archane, the father whose daughter was placed for adoption without his knowledge and consent, will be able to move forward as the sole guardian for his daughter after the adoptive parents who lost custody last month decided not to appeal the ruling. Archane's ex-wife moved [...]
Last week, the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, apologized to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries, the name given to the women subjected to the harsh conditions of the laundries unwed pregnant women. From 1922 to 1996, an estimated 10,000 women and girls were placed.Many of their children were placed for adoption. Justice for Magdalenes, a [...]
Lucinda Jesson, Commissioner of Minnesota Department of Human Services, appeared on KARE-11 to encourage people to consider adopting African American youth in foster care in Minnesota. Commissioner Jesson spoke of meeting one youth who, at age 17, was adopted. Commissioner Jesson also encouraged anyone interested in learning more about adoption to visit the mnadopt.org website. [...]
[Photo by Patrick Cummings for Associated Press] ESPN's Rick Reilly published a commentary on ESPN's website last week about Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick was adopted and according to the Reilly article, is currently not interested in meeting his birth mother. Human interest stories about our sports figures are common, [...]
Last week a local news organization, The City Pages, published a feature article about a contested adoption case that the Minnesota Supreme Court is reviewing. As with many of these cases, this story highlights systems issues in child welfare, the tension between biological family and foster families, racial differences, interjurisdictional placements between states and the [...]