The Ackerman Institute’s Center for the Developing Child and Family in New York has partnered with New York City Children’s Services to train foster parents and staff at mother-child residences, and is beginning trainings in Washington D.C. Here, Martha Edwards, the Center’s director, explains how staff and foster parents can support the mother-child bond:
After a baby is born, staff and foster parents sometimes look at moms struggling and find it easier to just take over. … Read More
When my oldest daughter was taken into foster care, I had to confess. I had to speak to people who thought the worst of me. I had to take responsibility for my actions even though I didn’t understand what I had done wrong.
What I’d done was encourage my young nieces, nephews, cousins and my boyfriend’s kids to experiment sexually during a game of Truth or Dare. Growing up, I was sexually abused so many times … Read More
My child welfare story (Shrounda) began when I moved into a neighborhood high in drug use and poverty. I was an African-American woman in my mid-30s, married with two children. I was arrogant—I thought I could control my drug use and that my surroundings wouldn’t affect me. Instead I found myself in the depth of an ever-evolving addiction. I went from using alcohol and cocaine to using crack daily. I desired so much out of … Read More
Before I began an internship as a social work student at the Child Welfare Organizing Project in East Harlem, I had no idea what the words “child welfare system” even meant. I grew up in Westchester County, New York. The families I knew had the means to deal with issues like substance abuse and domestic violence behind closed doors.
Listening to families in CWOP’s support group quickly opened my eyes to the reality that for families … Read More
The Birth Parent National Network, coordinated by the Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds, connects parent leaders nationwide. Here, BPNN members Jeffrey Mays, parent partner at the Public Children Services Association of Ohio in Cleveland; Shrounda Selivanoff, parent advocate at Evergreen Manor Inpatient Treatment and volunteer at Catalyst for Kids in Washington State; and Piazadora Footman, editorial assistant at Rise in New York, share parents’ perspectives on how to bring fewer children of color into the … Read More
