Learning As I Go

My interest in the psychology field began after being admitted to a residential dual-diagnosis facility in 2016. At age 15, I had experienced a plethora of trauma, which began the day I was conceived. Born in Russia, both my birth mother and father had alcohol-use issues and neglected their four children, which ended up leading […]

Coaching Youth for Success

After years of helping guide young people, author Alphonza Bush offers these tips to parents of teens in foster care First of all, I would like to congratulate you for being willing to invest in the lives of our future leaders. As a parent or foster parent, your support, encouragement and trust is what it […]

Joy of Curls

Black entrepreneur, mentor creates hair care line to support youth in foster care When Joy Hankins and her husband first learned how to become foster parents in 2011 in Arizona, they were surrounded by white families. “My family represented the only Black family in the training room,” Hankins said from her home in Des Moines, […]

A Village Apart

Several years ago, the Lummi Tribal Council told Diana Phair, the executive director of the tribe’s Housing Authority: “We have 200-some children in foster care. We need to bring our children home.” What would it take, Phair asked tribal members of the nation that sits on Washington’s Pacific coast near Canada, to keep their families […]

From Surviving to Thriving

How to create resilient teams to support foster, adoptive and kinship families while making a difference for kids in foster care One thing is certain — the pandemic presented many challenges for foster, adoptive and kinship parents, agency staff and most importantly youth. As we navigated through uncertain times, we had to learn to adapt […]

Keeping Social Workers by Caring for Them

In 2018, Nicole Taylor sat down with child welfare leadership in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and asked what their three greatest challenges were. One of those challenges was social worker turnover. At the time, they were experiencing a 69% turnover rate among their workers. Taylor is the executive director of Congregations for Kids, a local […]

Applying Restorative Justice Principles in Children’s Environments

Restorative justice practices have grown in popularity among Western institutions in the last half-century, but the roots of this conflict management model go deeper. Originally conceptualized by indigenous communities, such as the Māori of New Zealand and the Native American and First Nation people of North America, restorative justice is a versatile tool for teaching […]

Having Hope

Did you know there is a robust body of science around hope? Did you know this science consistently demonstrates that hope is a leading factor in the well-being of children, adults and families? But how does trauma, stress and adversity impact our ability to have hope? Trauma is often linked to poor attachments between children […]

Know Before You Go

When it comes to going back to school, thoughts of excitement and anticipation are probably the first things that come to mind. However, the children of resource parents may not feel the same way. As their caregiver, being attentive to your child’s social emotional needs can prepare them for the best possible outcome. Given the […]

Back-to-School Tips

I have fond memories of returning to school in the fall, despite attending around 12 different K-12 schools (11 public and one private) because of my frequent moves in the foster care system. School was perhaps the most consistent thing in my life: it was the only safe space where I could actively engage and […]