Children aren’t meant to live in foster care. Unfortunately, sometimes to be safe, children must be removed from their homes and placed into foster care while their parents have a chance to remedy the reasons that the home was unsafe. But could situations like this......
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Sometimes it all gets to be a little much. Life can get overwhelming, work can be crazy, family obligations can be draining, and even the things we enjoy like volunteering can add pressure. There is a reason why we hear phrases like “recharge your batteries”......
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I am often asked what it takes to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). The answer I give is a simple one – You need to have a heart for children in foster care, be able to pass background checks, and have 10-15 hours......
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Children are being sex trafficked in our community. Let that sink in. Sex trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of an individual who under force, fraud, or coercion is induced to perform a commercial sex act. When sex with......
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Looking back on 2020 it is easy to see only the negatives. We acknowledge that there were many negative things that occurred in 2020 and we have learned greatly from some of those things. However, as we reflect on what the past year has brought......
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Adoption is something we see on a regular basis. The primary goal when children enter foster care is to see the children reunified with their family. Unfortunately, there are times when that cannot occur safely, and we see children find safe and permanent homes through......
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Have you traced your ancestry? Do you know where your family came from? We all seem to want to know where we came from. You can purchase a DNA kit and learn a lot about your family history. You even get percentages back that tell......
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“911, What’s your emergency?” Sobbing, “Mommy and Daddy are fighting.” The call continues for over 8 minutes as the young child alternately begs for the police to come, cries, and tries to protect her younger siblings. We use this recording each time we train new......
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The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 800-273-8255. When I think about suicide, I think of the mothers I know who have lost children to suicide. They never stop grieving. They grieve for the child they lost. They grieve for......
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Kids are back in school! Some parents have anxiously been awaiting the day they could send their children back to brick and mortar school since March. Some parents have made the decision to home school even though they never had that in their family plan......
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Resilience is defined as 1) the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties: toughness, and 2) the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity. We often combine the two and think of people as being able to bounce or spring back......
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Are you feeling stuck in a rut on how you spend your family time? In March and April when COVID-19 first had us locking ourselves inside, did you do lots of fun activities? But now, you’ve resorted to unlimited screen time? Maybe the extreme heat......
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What do you celebrate? Most of us celebrate significant events and milestones. We celebrate births, engagements, weddings, graduations, promotions, and other major life events. We celebrate Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, and Thanksgiving. We recently celebrated Juneteenth more collectively than ever before and this year......
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Every June, we celebrate National Reunification Month! Reunification is the goal of Foster Care and something CASA Advocates help their clients work towards. When children must be removed from their families to ensure their safety, the first goal is to reunite them with their families......
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Recently I was thinking about icebreakers… those little questions or activities used at meetings and trainings, meant to lighten the mood, build a connection, or get to know each other. Last year when I was presenting training for a group of new CASA advocates, I......
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