Connecting Children and Teenagers with Caring Families
When you think of social workers, what comes to mind? Is it the image of someone helping the community? Or someone pouring over files at a desk at your county office? Maybe you think of your friend who is a social worker or maybe you think about the social worker who has helped you.
Parenting teenagers is a hallmark of our society. It is the cause of lots of crazy stories, frustrations and some really funny moments. Hormones are changing, identities are being formed and you’re just trying to do the right thing for your kid’s growth and development. Being a foster parent for a teenager is the same as raising any other teenager in many ways.
Fostering parenting teenagers can seem a very daunting task, but it is possible to do a good job and it can be very rewarding. Some foster parents even find they have a special knack for raising teens! To help you out, we’ve outlined some tips that in addition to support from your social worker, can lead you in how to best parent a teen in foster care.
Foster parenting is parenting. Like any parent, you experience ups and downs when raising your children. You have financial, emotional, and time commitments just like you do for a child who is born into your household.
The good days far outweigh the bad, but foster parenting comes with some unique ups and downs that you should know about so you can be prepared to handle or celebrate them accordingly.
While we may celebrate different holidays at the same time of the year, there is a lot shared between us all when it comes to the spirit of the season. Your family may have a different spiritual or cultural background than your foster child.
Where some may see a challenge to prepare for, we think this is one of the hidden opportunities to demonstrate care and support. Because there are some values in the season that we all have in common, and incorporating them into your household during this time is a great way to bond with and celebrate the season as a family.
November is National Adoption Month, and this year's focus is on finding adoptive families for older youth and highlighting the importance of engaging young people in both routine and systems-change processes.
There is a huge need for adoptive parents willing to take youth who are at risk of aging out of the foster care system. Studies have shown that long-term success rates are much higher for teens who are adopted into families, before aging out of the system.
Holidays can stir up different emotions for foster children and Halloween can be particularly triggering due to the season being about frights and spookiness. We want to encourage all our foster families and help you celebrate during this time of year in whatever way feels best for you.
We are a month or more into the school year and are very likely to continue working and learning from home for a while. If you don’t like what you’re seeing, we have some tips and resources that can help change your current reality into a better and potentially easier one.
Finances are one of the most important things to consider around foster care, but no one openly talks about them. There are many misunderstandings and poor portrayals of foster care when it comes to where money is concerned.
We want to set the record straight and give you more information so you can be more prepared as you decide if becoming a foster parent is right for you. Simply put, if you can support your household and those in it currently, you can afford fostering.
When you spend your dollars on a foster child, it’s less about making purchases and more about making an investment.
July is the peak of summer and kids want to have as much fun as possible! With the current landscape of our society and COVID19, we need to be responsible to our families and others in how we celebrate this month of freedom from school.
Here are some simple ways you and the kiddos can stay active, engaged, and most importantly, safe!
May is National Foster Care Month, and each year the Children’s Bureau, a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services, seeks to spread awareness of the impact of Foster Care with a theme unique to the year.
