The Nation’s Only Monthly Magazine Devoted to Foster Care

I think having a magazine out about foster care is such a good recognition method. Slowly the distribution of “Foster Focus” can increase and bring awareness to more communities. A magazine talking about the issues presented, as well as advertising proposals and programs available is needed. 

 

Anyone can subscribe to it, 12 magazines for $25. 

 

This is the “about page” on their web site.

Judges, lawyers, caseworkers, advocates, foster parents, adoptive parents, foster care alumni, guidance counselors, teachers, principles and current foster youth all read Foster Focus. The go-to source of foster care news and information for anyone involved in anyway with the foster care industry.

 

Foster Focus is a monthly magazine dealing exclusively and entirely with the Foster Care Industry.  The core of the magazine are seven monthly featured sections, Anonymous Faces, Ask a Pro, Editor’s Notes, Family Adventures, Guest Speaker, What Do They DO? A nonprofit profile and Lawmakers.  These sections coupled with cover stories and coverage of events focused on foster care will, in fact make for the most in depth view of the Foster Care Industry ever published.  Accomplished doctors, attorneys and psychiatrists and New York Times bestselling authors make up the writing staff for Foster Focus they add credibility and project a sense of understanding to our readers. A range of stories and subjects are covered, highlights include; interviews with Country star Jimmy Wayne and From the NFL’s New Orleans Saints Jimmy Graham, exclusive stories by Dr.John DeGarmo, Rhonda Sciortino, FCAA CEO Adam Robe and Casey Family Planning CEO William Bell.

 

Another service offered by Foster Focus is the website, which can be viewed at http://www.FosterFocusMag.com, It has excerpts of the magazines authors and highlights of the monthly sections and allows non-subscribers the opportunity to subscribe via the internet.

My desire to make a CHANGE

Before I plan to change things within the entire foster care system, I have to decide where to start. I have been thinking about impact of the inefficient foster care system on the broader communities and their requisite macro stakeholders.  Now, before I reach to the macro level, I must hit the micro level to make a change. I will advocate locally by informing my community of the resources, programs, and organizations for foster care children.

First, individuals should be aware of what is provided in their own communities. Services provided by the Kinship Center (located in Monterey County) includes specialized training for parents, individualized services for each child, ongoing professional support, and the friendship and support of other foster and adoptive families providing the same valuable care to children. The Kinship Center’s foster care program includes short or long term parenting for children with a variety of special circumstances.

Most importantly, communities should know laws, provisions, and policies that impact foster care children. Programs like the National Foster Youth Action Network can become available anywhere. And if it is available everywhere, then many of the foster youth that age out would be able to step out of the horrible stigma foster youth face. Foster youth can become leaders and advocates of their own communities! How awesome is that?

So how can all this be done? How can we provide programs and put things into action?

People who care need to stand up! And for those who don’t care YET, need to become aware of this issue, and how it impacts children’s lives, impacts families, impacts communities, and impacts the U.S. in all. I feel like bringing awareness is a start, awareness to what we all a whole can do to bring all this organizations out of hiding from our foster children and communities.

April is Child Abuse Awareness month

There are 500,000 children in the foster care system in the United States. Children enter the foster care system when their parents or legal guardians are unable or unwilling to endow with care. While that is being figured out, a child protective agency works together with a family court and makes the legal decisions for the child to be taken care of by foster parents.

“Approximately 70 percent of the children who enter the foster care system, were neglected or abused by their parents” (Miller, 2010).

Any child who comes within any of the Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300 descriptions is within the authority of juvenile court, which may deem that person to be a dependent child of the court and handed to Child Protective Services, Foster Care and Adoption.

Child Abuse Awareness month!

The definition of child abuse is physical or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child. Additionally, it is the failure of being an adequate parent or caretaker that leads to death or serious physical or emotional harm to a child.

 

I have attached the Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300 for those of you who are curious of the guidelines, when a child is removed from their parents or caretakers.

Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300

Join the Movement!

Listen to trainers, participants and policy makers that talk about how the National Foster Youth Action Network has impacted their lives and work.

National Foster Youth Action Network

 

I came across this awesome organization for foster youth!

Foster youth transforming themselves into powerful leaders and advocates.

The “National Foster Youth Action Network” envisions state and national child welfare systems that provide services for mental wellness, permanency, education and career opportunities, economic security, and self-sufficiency for all foster youth. Not just that, but they also envision national policy makers and state child welfare systems working together with current and former foster youth in the making of child welfare policies.

This organization’s mission is to build leadership and advocacy skills of current and former foster youth to educate decision makers. They then can work collaboratively to improve state and local child welfare systems, as well as national policies that affect all foster youths in some way.

 

This Action Network can help foster youth learn how to advocate  and recommend solutions with legislators and policymakers on issues like:

-Improving access to college

-Increasing transitional housing services

-Sibling togetherness

-Improving independent living programs (post-emancipation services)

-Increasing the availability of social worker and mental health services

 

The organization can also help foster youth get organized and:

-Make a mission statement for goals

-Learn how policies are made

-Learn how to run professional meetings

-Develop a decision-making process as a group to let every voice speak

 

Lastly, if youth wants to raise awareness about the issues they are facing, the Action Network can help them build:

-Youth conferences that educate policymakers about foster care issues

-Community dinners t0 educate the communities about the issues

 

I believe that this organization has amazing visions for foster youth! It slightly upsets me that it actually has taken so long for such a good idea to arise. Having foster youth themselves speak up about the issues they faced or are facing while in foster care is essential when seeking for solutions.

http://www.fosteryouthaction.org

“Save Lives Foster Care Youth Counts Contest”

Foster Care Kids Need Love Too®

About this contest, View entries, Submit an entry, Winners.

“Save Lives Foster Care Youth Counts” Foster Care Kids Need Love Too is doing a contest for Unity and Support. We are giving away 100 dollar Best Buy gift card, 100 dollar Walmart Card, 50 dollar Amazon card, 5 Starbucks 5 dollar gift cards. and one 5 dollar Amazon gift card. Entries starts today, entries ends May 3, 2013 Good Luck! in thank you for support Foster Care Kids Need Love Too! You can vote every hour. A minimum donation of $1.00 is required  to vote.

Submit an entry, View entries.

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Placement Settings

The foster-home shortage has left a growing number of children in crisis shelters, group homes and treatment facilities, rather than in family homes. Older youth in the foster care system are more likely to be placed in a group home or institution setting than younger children. They are even less likely to be taken into a pre-adoptive or family foster home, including with relatives or in guardianship. In 2009 nearly 54,000 youth aged 13 to 21 lived in a group or institutional setting.

Shown in the chart below, only 4 percent of the children under the age of 12 lived in group or institutional settings, because 84 percent of the children under the age of 12 were placed in foster homes with foster parents or relatives. So the likelihood of being in a family felt, foster home setting decreases when a child hits the age of 13.

 

Placement Settings for Youth in Foster Care (2009)

 

Older foster youth’s goals are significantly different from younger children, in the foster care system. Youth 13 and older are less likely to think that they will exit the foster care system through reunification with their parents or adoption. These children are more likely to have the goals of emancipation or long-term foster care. Furthermore that leads to having the older youth have longer stays in foster care. On average, kids between the ages of 19 and 21, have spent at least 7.5 years under the care of the foster care system.

 

The fact that children are staying in offices, crisis shelters, group homes and treatment facilities for no reason other than, the foster care system not having homes for them is ridiculous. It is wondered why foster children grow up with such negative aspects in their life, but it’s not that hard to see that it is their placement settings that drives that. Children need healthy homes in order to grow up with minor difficulties.

Foster Kids face tough times after 18th birthday

The systems working towards finding children permanent homes don’t always succeed in their goals.

More than 20,000 children each year never leave the system, they remain in foster care until they “age out”. Not all children are fortunate enough to go to a permanent family.

As time progresses, more and more children are aging out because they aren’t getting adopted. People want to adopt children at a young age to see them grow up and raise them with their own habits and cultures. Sadly, children live in the foster care system knowing that emotionally.

Children who age out and don’t go to a loving home face difficulties in finishing school, having a plan for their future, and obtaining a job. If someone does not have a job, there is no income, there’s no money to pay for rent, there for there is no shelter. Foster children can even grow up to be homeless.

More importantly, foster children grow up to face chronically medical and mental problems in our communities, and it seems as if no one is doing anything about it.

Josh Mendoza and Katrena Wingo of Tampa, Florida offers their thoughts on living alone after aging out.