Foster Fathers

Foster fathers play an important role in the lives of children in foster care. Here’s what one dad had to share about his experience. The role of a foster father is an important one, and one that should not be taken lightly. Dads are not only an example for the child in their home, but […]

Collaborative Caregiving Promotes Development

Babies are raised in all different kinds of families. Roles and responsibilities may be allocated, assigned, claimed or agreed upon by family members as a result of the family’s culture, values and beliefs. While it is common for parents to provide primary care, other caregivers such as grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, foster parents and […]

From Foster Care to the White House

Decades before she joined President Joe Biden’s administration in January, Sherry Lachman had to figure out how to navigate foster care. As a 6-year-old, she entered the system she would later compare to chemotherapy: a sometimes necessary evil that can have terrible side effects, including trauma and dislocation. Lachman remained in foster care for less […]

Instead of ‘Hard to Place Child’

This series focuses on words or expressions considered “strength-based” to help foster or resource, adoptive and kinship parents and child welfare agency staff describe and discuss children and families from a positive and person-first perspective. Here’s a quick look at our suggestions so far: • Replace the word “homes” with “families” because it is not […]

A Father’s Heart

Q: As an educator in special education for the last 14 years, how has your job impacted your role as a foster parent? Over the years, I have sat through meetings and dealt with the difficult realities of students and children who are caught in a storm of uncertainty and struggle. A big part of […]

Engaging Dads

All parents need help every now and again. That’s what brought Casey Flanegin-Buffa, 40, to the Project Fatherhood program at Orange County, California’s Families Uniting Families. Flanegin-Buffa was in the midst of a break-up with his daughters’ mother in 2016, just a year sober after struggling with alcoholism, and felt alone as he navigated single […]