A publication dedicated to making foster care and adoption in North Carolina the best they can be
by Glenda Clare • Shared parenting was my goal when I decided to assume the custody of my cousin’s youngest child. To be supportive, I accompanied my cousin to Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings and paid for required drug testing. In my head, I was singing Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” I knew everything was going to be alright
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by Donna Foster • Tips to help you engage, motivate, and support birth parents as they learn to parent their children in healthy ways. Foster parents are taught about the things children feel when experiencing loss. We are taught in MAPP about the grief cycle and how to help children through each stage. Yet we are not always taught that
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by Jonathan Rockoff • Shared parenting was their biggest fear about being foster and adoptive parents. But they overcame this fear in an inspiring and remarkable fashion. I met Jonathan and Sally Six of Wake Forest, NC five years ago when they first became licensed foster parents. They already had one child of their own, “Mark,” and wanted to open
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by Amy Huntsman • Almost all foster parents I know want to do shared parenting because they know foster care is supposed to be a support for families, not a substitute for parents. But sometimes they do have concerns. Some are new to foster parenting and worried about the unknowns. Others have a specific concern or experience—for example, the child’s
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I visited Darren a lot while he was in foster care and worked hard to get him back. Even though I had two relapses, I went to school full-time and worked part-time. I lived in a shelter some of the time, and I got TANF…. “This story is about Darren, not about us.” After our visits, I always took Darren
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by Donna Foster • One thing children and youth say about being in foster care is that adults talk about their lives and make plans without communicating with them. I have heard many say, “This is my life and I need to know what is going to happen!” I learned this early in my 17 years of fostering and agree
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The theme of this issue of Fostering Perspectives is “foster care as a support for families, not a substitute for parents.” Foster care is intended to be a short-term intervention that strengthens parents’ protective capacities so they can safely care for their children. The goal is almost always for children and youth to return to their families. One of the
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Because the child welfare system is complex, it can be frustrating even for those who work in it. For kinship caregivers, who often find themselves involved in the system with little or no time to prepare, it can be confusing and even intimidating. To help, following is a brief overview of some basic things every kinship caregiver should know about
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Questions to ask the child welfare worker about taking responsibility for the children: Who has legal custody of the children? What rights and responsibilities does legal custody give? Physical custody? May I receive a copy of the signed voluntary placement agreement? (when applicable) May I be involved in developing the service plan and receive a copy of the plan? Will
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by Rochelle Johnson • The initial placement of a child in our home is often an exciting time. For many of us, it is the first introduction to a young person that will be living with us for days, months, or sometimes years. In a perfect world, the logistics of welcoming that child into our family would be clearly presented
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