Trauma is an experience that makes you feel that your life—or a loved one’s life—is in danger and overwhelms your ability to cope. In recent years, child welfare systems around the country have been focusingon the role trauma plays in child welfare, and systems have begun to recognize how deeply trauma impacts not only children in foster care, but also parents.
Here Erika Tullberg, associate director of the NYU Center on Coordinated Trauma Services in Child … Read More
Child welfare cases are heard in courts because parents and children have legal rights, and the role of lawyers and judges is to protect those rights. But in a typical court case, when one side wins, the other side loses. In child welfare, that’s not the case. When parents lose, children lose. Children and parents both do best when children can safely return home.
With that in mind, the Model Courts project of the National Council … Read More
Illustration by Ogen Dolma
Visit Coaching supports parents in planning fun visits that help them bond with their children. Here Marty Beyer, who developed Visit Coaching, explains how parents can make the most of family time while their children are in foster care:
One of the most important things for a parent to do during visits is to stand in the child’s shoes. Imagine what it’s like for your child to be separated from you … Read More
From Rights to Reality is designed to unite parents and parent advocacy around a common set of goals. It identifies 15 rights for parents affected by the child welfare system. Most parents do not yet have these rights in child welfare proceedings. From Rights to Reality represents a commitment to working in our communities and nationwide to make these rights a reality.
Each right is illustrated by parents’ stories—stories that show how families can be strengthened … Read More
Art by Patricia Battles
Erika Palmer, a staff attorney at Advocates for Children in New York City, explains parents’ rights to stay involved in their children’s education while their children are in foster care. Advocates for Children’s special project on foster care guides parents and child welfare agencies on educational decision-making for children in care.
1. Keep in Contact With the School
Parents should know that, even if you can’t have unsupervised contact with your children … Read More
