On Aug. 4, the executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, Sandra Killett, a parent activist in New York City and mother whose son was placed in foster care, and Rosalina Burton, an intern with FosterClub and a former foster youth from California, testified before the Senate Finance Committee about a bill, The Family Stability and Kinship Care Act, that would increase federal funding for preventive services. (Click here to watch their … Read More
Finding Support
All parents need places where they feel safe and supported. Many parents want help but fear opening up about their struggles and don’t know where to safely find support. If children are in foster care, parents may not know what services to ask for to help them heal. Parents write about the supports that have helped them feel safe, bond with their children, grow as people and parents, reunify with their children—and keep their children out of foster care.
NYC Coalition Educates Lawmakers on How Preventive Services Can Keep Kids Safe at Home
August 01, 2015 by
The federal Family Stability and Kinship Care Act, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on August 4, would give states more flexibility to provide family support services that could keep children safe at home and out of foster care. On Aug. 5, members of the New York Coalition for Child Welfare Funding Reform—a diverse coalition of advocates and foster care agency leaders—met with lawmakers to educate them about the need … Read More
‘I Fought and Fought and Fought’ – I needed a lawyer to get my son home
February 01, 2015 by
Interview with Timothy Barbee
My journey in family court started because my fiancée died on me the day before my son’s 2nd birthday.
The day he was born, we’d had a little argument about his middle name. She wanted it to be James. I didn’t like it—I knew she’d had a boyfriend named James. She told me, “That’s my Daddy’s middle name!” I thought she was pulling a fast one on … Read More
Child Left Behind – My son fell apart in a stressful school environment
October 01, 2014 by
It was homework time in my house one evening last fall. I called my son into the living room. He stormed in demanding popcorn. I told him, “No, not until you do your homework.” Why did I say that? He began screaming that he hated me. He had started telling me he hated me every time things didn’t go his way.
For months, homework had been a daily conflict. This time, I … Read More
Mission Impossible – CPS is helping to reconnect my son and me even though I lost my rights
May 02, 2013 by
Three years ago, my son was removed from my home because he had serious behavioral problems and I had become too sick and exhausted to care for him.
I raised my son on my own until he was 9 years old. For five years, he was in and out of psychiatric hospitals because of his impulsive, destructive behavior. He was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder.
I found services to support my … Read More