I was reading through a list of five simple things not to forget, and number one hit me hard. I think the reason why is that it’s so inanely simple that you’d think it would be self-evident, but unfortunately it’s not in way too many situations. Read more…
I’ve been following the blog, I Was a Foster Kid, for a while now. It provides a strikingly honest, unvarnished view into the experiences of someone who was in the foster care system. Here’s a snippet from the latest post: Read more…
While looking into the child welfare and child abuse prevention resources for the previous post on April being Child Abuse Prevention month, I ran into several posts that declared the entire thing to be nothing more than propaganda or hysteria. Rather than passing them by, I looked into the posts, and in the interest of presenting dissenting and often unheard viewpoints offer this summary. Read more…
April is Child Abuse Prevention month. Recognizing the fact that child abuse can be insidiously invisible in our society and that all to often the cries and screams of the children go unheard, we are all encouraged to use this month to educate ourselves and build awareness. Read more…
I admit the question of child welfare and the degree to which Child Protective Services serves the needs of children in an effective or meaningful way is a frustrating one. All I can say at this point is that I don’t think I’d want a job working for CPS. Read more…
I have been reading quite a bit of commentary on our nation’s child protective services (CPS) and the programs, such as the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), that are associated with the CPS system. Given that most people only invest energy in writing about topics they feel passionate about, it should not be surprising that almost everything I have read about the CASA program and people who serve has CASA volunteers has been largely negative.
Does the prospect of just killing foster kids when they get too old to stay in the system strike you as a horrific idea? I would imagine it does, but the reality of what foster kids face when they “age-out” is not much less traumatic. Read more…
You want to see something very troubling? Click this link. The image shows the globe with the countries sized by the number of children who die before their first birthday, and that doesn’t include stillbirths. You won’t be surprised that the largest countries are also the poorest.
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Even though this article is about Vietnam, it provide interesting criteria on what constitutes and contributes to children living in poverty. Read more…
I am a professionally trained educator, so I recognize that I have a tendency to see things from that perspective. Sometimes that ends up leading to interesting insights. Read more…
