Rise Magazine

Rise magazine is written by parents who have faced the child welfare system in their own lives. Many people don’t know that the majority of children who enter foster care return home to their parents–and that most children in care wish for a lifelong relationship with their parents, whether they live with them or not. Helping parents is fundamental to helping children in foster care.

Through personal essays and reporting, parents illuminate every aspect of the child welfare experience from parents’ perspectives. For professionals, Rise stories offer insight that can improve how you engage and support families. For parents, Rise offers information, peer support, and hope.

Parenting

Child Support

Early Intervention Services can help your baby grow.

As babies grow, they develop new abilities to move, speak and relate emotionally. At each age, there are “developmental milestones”—typical behaviors or abilities that you’ll want to watch for in your children. For example, at 3 months old, babies should be able to make fists with both hands, lift their head and chest, and turn their head toward sounds, bright colors and light.

If your child isn’t meeting … Read More

Parenting

A Hug Every Day

I always knew my father wasn’t much of a family man. He was in and out of prison. He would show up and then disappear for two or three years.

After I went into foster care at the age of 10, I wondered,“Why didn’t he want any part of me?” I wanted him to help me answer questions like, “Can I make it in life?” and, “What is my purpose?”

Kids at Risk

I’m not alone in missing … Read More

Parenting

Stepping into Fatherhood

I want to be a role model for my daughter.

On July 1, 2007, I held my daughter in my arms for the first time. Emma Frost (the nickname I gave her) was 6 pounds and 9 ounces with a head full of hair. I couldn’t feel a thing until I left the hospital. 

As I sat in the cab, looking out the window, I thought about good memories I had of my dad, how he always … Read More

Addiction

Slowing Down in Life

Drugs got between me and my son.

Before my son came along, I was with different women and partied all the time. I was smoking marijuana and using cocaine once in a blue moon. I held down a good job but I also liked to have a fun and forget my responsibilities.

I knew things would change when I became a father, but I never expected that my partying might put my son in jeopardy.

Our Baby … Read More

News

‘Your History Is Not Destiny’

Most parents who were abused do not harm their kids.

Although people often talk about “breaking the cycle of abuse,” studies show that most parents who were physically abused as children do not grow up to physically abuse their children, says Katherine Pears, a research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center. Here she explains the research on abuse and parenting:

That’s a notion in people’s heads that if you haven’t had a good model of … Read More

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