Rise Magazine

A Day to Remember: ‘I wanted them to know I missed them with all my heart.’

My children came home a week before Easter, but when they walked in it was Easter for them. I had new toys, clothing and an Easter basket waiting for them. Even though they knew that I loved them, I wanted them to know that I missed them with all my heart. I took them out to eat, play and to the movies. We played games, danced around the house and watched TV. I cooked some food because they missed my home cooking. 

It was so unreal to hear all of them call me mom at one time. I had been waiting for that for a whole year and three months. The kids stayed up half the night, excited because we all were home together in one house. 

When they went to sleep I checked on them the whole night. I didn’t think it was real that they were home. After they went to bed, I sat in my room and cried because my children were back with me. I didn’t think this day would come true. I had worked so hard to get them back home.

Rise Magazine

The Shutdown is Impacting My Family

I’m writing as a parent that has been impacted by the coronavirus shutdown and lives in public housing with limited resources. I had a child welfare case, but it is closed and my kids are home with me now.

The coronavirus is impacting me and my family — I’m struggling financially, our housing is impacted, and I’m scared to go outside.

The children get home schooling and some activities are fun, some are boring. It’s very hard for my son to get teletherapy (therapy over FaceTime). He wants to go back to school and he is bored.

Still, I try to make sure my kids have good moments, like baking cupcakes in the house. We have had fun playing with Play-Doh and making new things out of it, such as caterpillars and butterflies.

Everything is not perfect but I do my best every day to do what I need to do.

Rise Magazine

Getting Creative: Support, routines and new tricks are helping my son and me during COVID-19

My son Aaron has a ton of energy, and if he doesn’t have a way to release it, we are both not happy. Since the weather is absolutely beautiful, we go out at least once a day. We try to go as much as possible to the track field for exercise.

We are also being creative with building magna tiles and doing art projects.

Luckily, Aaron and I have a support system in place. We have family and friends. We get a delivery of food every two days from a food program and our good friend is always having her husband drop off food for us. We are so lucky that we have these people to love and care about us so much.

Aaron’s teacher said it would be a good idea to end each day by rating our mood and discussing why we feel that way. We do this when he is getting ready for bed. He tells me if he had a good day or a bad day, rating it from 1-10. If he had a bad day, we try to see how we can fix it the next day.

Rise Magazine

Reports are Down Overall, But Schools are Making False and Malicious Educational Neglect Reports

Due to COVID-19, children currently are not physically attending school or programs staffed by mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and neglect. Reports to child protective services have decreased significantly. Some quickly jumped to the conclusion that abuse and neglect may be going undetected and unreported.

However, parents and advocates provide another perspective and explain that the drop in calls is not necessarily the problem the media assumes. In fact, 90% of school personnel hotline calls turn out not be abuse or neglect.

Reunification

How Holistic Legal Representation Supports Reunification

As part of our Fighting for Our Rights series and in recognition of National Reunification Month, Rise is exploring how parent legal representation can support reunification.

Here, Rise talks with Marty Guggenheim, professor of clinical law at NYU Law School, co-director of NYU Law School’s Family Defense Clinic and co-author of the study “Effects of an interdisciplinary approach to parental representation in child welfare.” His research proves that interdisciplinary legal representation—an approach where a legal team includes a lawyer, parent advocate and social worker—helps families safely reunify more quickly. His research also shows that many children do not need to be in foster care at all.

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Learn About the Rise & Shine Parent Leadership Program and Apply for 2024!

Learn more about the Rise & Shine Parent Leadership Program and how to apply! Sign up for an open house information session.

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