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Read moreSeries: November 2020 • Vol. 25, No. 1
When COVID Hit, NC’s Resource Parents Stepped Up
by Jodi Franck • Who can you count on when times are hard? If the COVID-19 crisis has taught me anything, it’s that when challenges arise, resource parents step up. How do I know? Through my work overseeing the licensing of North Carolina’s foster parents I have had the privilege to hear about some of the many extraordinary actions resource
Read moreThe Pandemic and Protective Factors
by Jeanne Preisler • Even in times of stress, all families have strengths they can build on when they have the right supports. The Strengthening Families Protective Factor Framework® gives us some tangible tools we can lean into during this pandemic and its aftermath. Protective Factor: Parental Resilience What It Is: The ability to manage your reactions to stress and
Read moreSupporting Children’s Emotional Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Jessica Dym Bartlett, Jessica Griffin, Dana Thomson • The following guidance, recommendations, and resources are provided by child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts. The Center is housed at the University of Massachusetts with Child Trends as the lead evaluating agency, with funding from SAMHSA and the National Child
Read moreCOVID-19: Rising to the Occasion
They say experience is the greatest teacher. But what can you learn when your teacher is a pandemic? As it turns out, plenty. Since COVID-19 hit in March, life has been stressful, tiring, and hard. The virus has been a crash course in society-wide disruption. But this isn’t the pandemic’s only lesson. In North Carolina’s foster care program, resource parents,
Read moreCOVID-19 and the Holidays
by LeAnn McKoy • COVID-19 created the opportunity for the NC Division of Social Services to review its policies and practices to ensure the safety of children and families. We all have learned to wear masks, wash our hands more, and maintain physical distance from family and friends. New processes were adopted, while safety of children and families remained the
Read moreCOVID-19 Resources for Resource Parents
Foster and adoptive parents and kinship caregivers in North Carolina may find the following pandemic-related resources helpful. NC Resources COVID-19 North Carolina Dashboard General Child Welfare COVID-19 Guidance (May 1, 2020) Promotional Toolkit to inform and educate North Carolinians about COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and preventative measures they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones COVID-19 Video Playlist
Read moreTelehealth Therapy: The New Normal
by Amy Huntsman • Therapy is an important tool for helping youth in foster care develop coping mechanisms and process trauma. It can be so helpful to have a safe place and an unbiased person to be honest with. Telehealth therapy, also called “teletherapy,” is mental health treatment in which patients receive counseling from licensed therapists online, usually with a
Read moreInnovation in North Carolina’s Child Welfare System During COVID-19
by Jamie Bazemore • The pandemic has brought loss and hardship to so many of us. But for me it has also been a reminder of how adaptable and creative humans can be. Even when faced with disruption and challenges, we somehow find a way to innovate and move forward. I hope when COVID is behind us we will continue
Read morePandemic Struggles and Lessons of Foster Care Alumni
by Shanita Dildy-Goings • Every generation has their challenges, their life altering events and lessons learned. Every lifetime comes fraught with trials and tribulations that seem insurmountable at first, unforgiving at best, and at times without end. Somehow though, time after time we manage to pull through and come out stronger, wiser, and more prepared for the next game changer.
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