Anonymous asked: anything new happening?
Hi Anon,
Thanks for asking. It’s looking like placement is going to happen closer to November or December of this year. I don’t really have any new updates besides that …
My life is very busy and I recently took my nonprofit POC Zine Project to L.A. Zine Fest, where we were invited guests. Our panel was over capacity, which was amazing. I leave for Chicago tomorrow for Chicago Zine Fest, where POCZP is also an invited guest and we are being honored at a ceremony at Quimby’s Bookstore.
The company I work for was recently bought by another company, so it doesn’t make sense right now for me to try to cram a child into my life this early in the year. I have set a goal for this year, and that is to wind down much of the things that keep me so busy by the fall, and then shift my focus to having a child placed with me and bonding with a new daughter/son.
I will be wrapping up a 12 city tour at the end of October and will be very happy to stay put after that, have a teen placed with me and focus on being there for him/her ^_^
I know I am doing a terrible job keeping this updated, sorry. I feel like there will be a lot more to share as I begin more placement work after this summer. Between now and then, I will do my best to remember to update this periodically with related updates, helpful links and news.
Thanks again, Anon, for checking in <3
Anonymous asked: where can I get a teen girl for foster adoption where's the easiest place to find one and do it
This question sounds very sketchy without additional context. I am going to air on the side of caution and say … do the research for local resources if you’re serious about this as an ethical aspiring parent, not a pedophile/creep. Thanks.
Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth quietly growing in strength led by Reps. Bass, Bachmann →
Excerpt:
Three former foster children will be in Washington on Monday to witness President Barack Obama’s ceremonial inauguration for a second term.
They were invited by California Congresswoman Karen Bass, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and an ardent advocate for the more than 400,000 kids in foster care. She said witnessing the historic occasion will inspire them to reach their own goals.
“What I hope they walk away with is, `Wow, maybe I can do something great in my lifetime,’” Bass said. “I like for young people not to see a limitation on what they can do with their lives.
She’ll also introduce the youths to fellow lawmakers, hoping that meeting them in person and hearing their stories will encourage her colleagues to join. The caucus, which formed in 2011 and has focused on improving education outcomes and reducing the disproportionate amount of psychotropic medications prescribed to foster kids, has been slowly growing in strength.
Representatives Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Tom Marino, R-Pa.; and Jim McDermott , D-Wash., also co-chair the group of nearly 75 members. Obama recently signed into law The Uninterrupted Scholars Act, which the caucus pushed through to improve education outcomes by giving social workers access to education records.
I’m so excited about The Uninterrupted Scholars Act!
amends the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to make it easier for caseworkers to gain access to the educational records of foster children.
As reported in the Huffington Post, Representative George Miller (D-CA) stated,
“Throughout their young lives they may change care placements multiple times. Each placement means adjusting to a new family; often to a new community, new friends and a new school. Each move can put their educational success in jeapordy that’s because the caseworkers who advocate for them as they move from one school to another often do so without critical information. Though current law rightly requires foster care workers to move children’s educational records in their case plans, another federal law limits the ability of caseworkers to access those records in a timely manner.”
Holiday Thoughts
I hope everyone is having a safe, fun and relaxing time with their loved ones. For those who are not, I hope you are able to find peace and happiness however you can. Often our lives are interchangeable - one year we’re surrounded by loved ones, and the next year, we’re out in the cold. You never know how things will turn out, one day to the next.
Life is full of surprises and not all of them are good. But the human spirit is strong, and thankfully it can usually help us get through the tough times … It never hurts to have faith that things will work out, that time can make painful memories manageable, and to believe that there are good people in the world (because there are!). <3
For Christmas, I got my teen niece a Nexus 7 tablet. She will use it for fun, but I am also encouraging her to use it to augment her education. Her school sounds terrible. I want her to use it to read books and to teach herself new things. I told her about the free SAT prep apps, and sent her a link to be able to download a bunch of ebooks I am sharing with her. I explained (via text - her favorite medium) how to customize her Nexus device and how to find free books through the Kindle app.
I also got her a keyboard attachment so she can use the Nexus 7 like a laptop. I hope this device makes a difference in her life … she’s a smart person and I think that her past actions demonstrate that she’s a survivor - she found me online to find her dad, and she knows she doesn’t want the kind of life that she’s presently living. If her mom ends up breaking her promise and goes back to meth, I will be happy to take her. I can worry about all the stressful stuff later, for now I just feel good knowing that I am doing the best that I can to be there for her.
I’m a little disappointed that my younger niece and nephew’s case worker never called me back in time for me to send Christmas gifts through her. Since I can’t mail things to the foster mom, I had wanted to send them things through the worker, and was told I could. But the worker never called me back, so I was too late.
I’m going to call them tomorrow and see how their Christmas went. I’ll let them know that I’m working out getting gifts to them ASAP.
Although I am honestly very happy to not have any children right now LOL, I’m looking forward to later next year when I will have a child in my home … whether it’s my niece, or a foster teen. <3
[MICHIGAN]: UM-Flint 'Life Skills Coach' to help students from foster care →
An $800,000 Michigan Department of Human Services grant has helped to bring a “Life Skills Coach” to the University of Michigan-Flint, a position that will be used to help students transition from the foster care system to college life.
The grant is being used fund the service at six state universities and one private college, according to UM-Flint.
The adjoining program at UM-Flint will be called Mpowering My Success.
UM-Flint’s Life Skills Coach is Cindy Nelson-Pouget, LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker). The program is expected to serve between 12-25 students each year.
RE-BLOG: Hope for the Future: Newbies →
NewbiesWelcome new followers! Thanks for joining me on this journey of foster care, adoption, and most recently birthing our first biological child.
I just wanted to clarify our situation in case you just found me: I have a 12 year old DD that was internationally adopted after I spent some time volunteering in orphanages while living abroad. She came to the States when she was two. I have a 6 year old DS who was adopted out of foster care. He was placed with me when he was just shy of one month old and eventually became available for adoption (that was not the original case plan/goal). His adoption was finalized when he was 2 1/2.
I adopted my two older kids as a single parent (never married), and I was 27 when DD joined me Stateside. I met my DH in 2009, and we were married in 2010. He adopted my two kids within a few months of our marriage, so they now have a daddy for the first time in their lives. We continued in the fostering process together, having more than ten placements (including two sets of twins) in our first years of marriage together.
In addition, we went through a miscarriage during our first year of marriage after more than six months of trying to get pregnant. After another year we found out we were pregnant again, and our daughter, E, arrived four weeks ago on 10/30-18 days past her due date.
We continue to foster, provide respite, and want to adopt again to grow our family. If you have questions, please feel free to ask, and encouragements are always welcome too. Glad to have you along for the continued journey.
Thank you for sharing your story! My Tumblr is about my journey finding and adopting a teen through foster care, but I love to share inspiring stories like yours regardless of the age of the child. <3
RE-BLOG: officially half-way through our home study
I am officially half-way through our home study, just a few things left, and things are looking good… We may have our first placement in early January… It’s bizarre to think we might go from 0 kids to 2 kids in less than a month, but also AWESOME.
Congrats and good luck! <3
RE-BLOG [COMMENT]: BE THE ONE WHO STAYS.
my son: “i love you, mom. [pause] i love you too much. i need to cut back on it.”
welcome to the mind of a wounded child… who has learned that anyone they love and grow attached to disappears, so to protect themselves, they avoid attachment or love so that they don’t have to feel the pain all over again. i am begging anyone out there who has a heart for kids and courage… BE THE ONE WHO STAYS. be the love that lasts. consider adoption of older children.
<3 this
RE-BLOG [QUOTE]: I know I shouldn’t…
But sometimes I hate the kids in the “Happy ending” stories I hear about adoption. I mean, I love these stories and intentionally seek them out. Afterwards, though, I realize I will probably not encounter the same fate. So then I, wrongly, resent the CHOSEN kids.
<3
I wish I was this self-aware when I was younger.
