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Listen to this12 DECEMBER 2014
Crying Beyond Tearlessness
Author from Upper Marlboro, MD publishes heartbreaking book about the world of foster care
Little Angels Crying Beyond Tearlessness, a new book written by Frank L. Mills, Jr. MSW, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
In this book, Mills presents readers with a glance inside the world of foster care through a collection of micro-stories. Painfully, the author recalls and highlights much of what occurs while the foster care "wheel of fortune" continues to spin much too slowly and stops on "adoption" much too seldom. The resulting occurrences leave little doubt in regard to why little angels cry, and why the author is unable to forget them.
About the author:
Frank L. Mills, Jr. MSW is a veteran of four decades of progressively
responsible work with and for foster children and youth. His east and
west coast work encompassed agencies involved in the gamut of services
provided for children placed in foster care. Importantly, his passion
for providing exemplary service to children clearly fueled a staunch
advocacy for foster care reform. In addition, it compelled the sharing
of some of the unforgettable memories of his long and distinguished
career.
The author's social work roots allowed for the framing of memories in a format revealing basic tenants of proven philosophies, methods, concepts, principles and techniques of both prudent parenting and residential child care. His amateur songwriting roots provided the courage to utilize rhythmic rhyme in presenting most shared memories.
Little Angels Crying Beyond Tearlessness is a 116-page paperback with a retail price of $12.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4349-2999-0. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, or to request a review copy, please go to our virtual pressroom at www.dorrancepressroom.com or our online bookstore at www.dorrancebookstore.com.
Contact Information
Jessica Stillwell
Dorrance Publishing
http://www.prleap.com/pr/231406/author-from-upper-marlboro-md-publishes
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10 DECEMBER 2014
USA
Improving outcomes for our nation’s foster youth
Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden, Valerie Jarrett, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack welcomed over 100 current and former foster youth from across the country to celebrate several new announcements aimed at improving the outcomes of youth in and aging out of care. As part of this effort, the White House hosted the stars and creators of the new movie Annie to highlight the issue of foster care.
We know that in real life, we don’t have movie magic to make things better, which is why we’re working to help keep foster children safe and empowered through every challenge they face. And we also know that the experience of foster children in America ranges more broadly than could ever be captured on the silver screen. We hope yesterday evening’s event raises awareness about the issue of foster care and encourages more families to consider fostering or adopting.
The President and all of those in his Administration believe in the basic bargain at the heart of the American story – that every child should have a fair chance at success. And that, no matter who you are or where you’re from, if you’re willing to work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to make it. But we know that sometimes, by no fault of their own, some kids are dealt a more difficult hand.
We believe that every child deserves the love and support of a permanent home. On any given day, there are over 400,000 children in our nation’s foster care system with over 100,000 waiting to be adopted. Every year, 23,000 of these youth will age out of the system, never having found their forever families. We have seen that youth who age out of foster care without a permanent placement often face challenges with completing their education, unemployment, financial security and the criminal justice system. No child should feel like they need to “beat the odds” in order to get ahead, and they certainly shouldn’t feel like they are on their own as they try.
The Administration is deeply committed to ensuring that all youth have the opportunity to succeed. Yesterday's policy announcements included initiatives focused on protecting the financial security of foster youth, ensuring their educational success, creating clear pathways to employment, and keeping them out of the justice system. The announcements also included federal and state initiatives aimed at ensuring access to free school meals for those in the foster care system and preventing youth from entering the foster care system in the first place.
Since the beginning of this Administration, we’ve been working hard to create a better, more supportive foster care system – a system that increases the safety, permanency, and well-being of all children. This has been an all-hands-on-deck effort, working with multiple agencies across the Administration as well as the non-profit and philanthropic communities.
Annie’s story has stood the test of time in this country because it focuses on the strength of the human spirit – and the feeling of joy that lifts up even our youngest children. And as we celebrate, we also reflect on the work that still lies ahead. Together, we can ensure that all young people have the opportunities and encouragement they need to realize their full potential.
White House Blog
9 December 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/12/09/improving-outcomes-our-nation-s-foster-youth
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8 DECEMBER 2014
Does having children make us any happier?
The birth of a first and a second child briefly increases the level of their parents’ happiness, but a third does not, according to new research from LSE and Western University, Canada.
According to the research, published in the journal Demography, parents’ happiness increases in the year before and after the birth of a first child, it then quickly decreases and returns to their ‘pre-child’ level of happiness.
The pattern for second births is similar, although the increase in happiness before and around the birth is roughly half of that for first births. The increase in parental happiness surrounding the birth of a third child is negligible.
Mikko Myrskylä, professor of demography at LSE and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, said: “Our results show a temporary and transitory gain in parents’ happiness around the birth of first and second children.
“The fact that parental happiness increases before these children are born suggests that we are capturing broader issues relating to childbearing such as couples forming partnerships and making plans for the future.
The arrival of a third child is not associated with an increase in the parents’ happiness, but this is not to suggest they are any less loved than their older siblings. Instead, this may reflect that the experience of parenthood is less novel and exciting by the time the third child is born or that a larger family puts extra pressure on the parents’ resources. Also, the likelihood of a pregnancy being unplanned may increase with the number of children a woman already has – and this brings its own stresses.”
Compared to men, women gain more in happiness in expectation of, and right after, the birth of a child. Women also have steeper drops in their happiness than men between the year of the birth and the year afterward, possibly because of the larger initial gain. However, in the long run, there are no differences between the happiness levels of men and women before and after children.
Those who have children at an older age or who are more educated have a particularly positive response to a first birth. Older parents, between the ages of 35 – 49, have the strongest happiness gains around the time of birth and stay at a higher level of happiness after becoming parents.
Those who become parents in their teens have a predominantly declining pattern of happiness that does not increase above the baseline even during the year of birth. Those who become parents between the ages of 23 -34 have increasing happiness before a first birth, however one to two years after the birth, happiness decreases to baseline or below.
Rachel Margolis, assistant professor from Western University’s Faculty of Social Science, said: “The fact that among older and better-educated parents, well-being increases with childbearing, but the young and less-educated parents have flat or even downward happiness trajectories, may explain why postponing fertility has become so common.”
The research is based on data from Britain and Germany and follows parents for 18 years after birth – which is markedly longer than previous studies.
Senior Press Officer
London School of Economics
2014
http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2014/10/ChildrenAndHappiness.aspx
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5 DECEMBER 2014
CALIFORNIA
UC Merced chancellor at White House summit
UC Merced is set to present a report at the White House today on its efforts to support underserved students and help them graduate.
This will be the second time UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland takes part in the College Opportunity Summit. In January, she unveiled six initiatives that UC Merced would use to aid undocumented students, to create career pathways to the Silicon Valley and to help other underserved students prepare for and succeed in college.
For this month’s visit, she will again join representatives from other colleges and universities, along with first lady Michelle Obama and officials from the National Economic Policy Council and the Department of Education.
“UC Merced is proud to be a part of this prestigious and vitally important effort, and we are even prouder of the steps we have taken as a university to serve our students more effectively,” Leland said in a press release. “Every student has his or her own strengths, circumstances and challenges, and our job is to ensure they all have the tools, knowledge and support they need to succeed.”
Leland plans to touch on each of the six initiatives:
Undocumented student services: The university, which added 124 undocumented students in fall 2014, began a “career boot camp” program to help students better navigate life after college. A $500,000 endowment from a local family foundation will support the campus’s efforts and provide scholarships for undocumented students.
Silicon Valley pathways: Student job and internship placement with companies in the Silicon Valley and Bay Area more than doubled from last year, from 90 to 191. The number of Silicon Valley firms doing on-campus interviews and information sessions for students increased from four to 17.
STEM Resource Center: Additional funding from the campus has allowed the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Resource Center to expand to include peer tutoring, faculty mentoring and research opportunities for undergraduates. About 49 percent of UC Merced students major in those fields.
College and Career Readiness Conference: UC Merced held a one-day conference in April to address college preparation, affordability and career exploration for 74 high school seniors from low-income families. The students, most of them bound for community college, attended career workshops in health, education, public service and engineering.
Foster youth services: The Guardian Scholars Program at UC Merced, which provides support to the roughly 80 former foster youths on campus, now offers year-round housing and emergency funds for financial hardship. The program has also built alliances with community colleges and counties, launched early outreach programs for K-12 students and supported college-readiness training programs for foster parents and social workers.
Financial literacy: In partnership with local financial institutions, UC Merced offered several financial literacy workshops in 2014. The campus is also developing a financial literacy website.
For its second College Opportunity Summit, the White House is looking for new commitments from colleges and universities to help underserved students.
The UC Merced School of Engineering is planning a curriculum overhaul, with an increased focus on entrepreneurship and innovation to help improve student retention. The School of Natural Sciences will create a series of workshops to train underserved students in the fundamental skills required for scientific research in an attempt to better prepare them to step into internships.
The university is also working toward a comprehensive retention plan that will include specific short- and long-term goals for continued improvement.
UC Merced has a large percentage of students who fall into the underserved demographics, as 60 percent of its undergraduates are Pell grant recipients and 62 percent are first-generation students.
Press release
3 December 2014
http://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/article4269421.html#storylink=cpy
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3 DECEMBER 2014
New Haven distributes
$500,000 in state grants to
youth violence prevention programs
The season of giving arrived early this year for 23 local nonprofit agencies and the youths they serve, as the city announced Monday it has won a $500,000 state grant that will fund various youth violence prevention programs.
“We’re here today to celebrate the service providers and most importantly the youth who are leading our city in preventing youth violence,” Alder Sarah Eidelson, D-1, chairwoman of the Youth Services Committee, said during a City Hall press conference attended by more than 50 agency representatives and youth program participants.
Several teens, including New Haven Academy ninth-grader Janailee Marquez, 14, said after the presentation that the key to keeping the city’s young people out of trouble is to keep them busy. Janailee said she heard about LEAP Inc. (Leadership, Education, Athletics And Partnerships) through a friend. She now participates in the agency’s Leaders-In-Training program, aimed at providing teens with homework help and also the tools to become leaders themselves.
LEAP’s LIT program received $10,000. The agency’s Junior Counselors program, which gives high school students between the ages of 16 and 18 the chance to mentor small groups of children participating in LEAP’s elementary school programs, received $50,000..
Mayor Toni Harp praised state Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, for her advocacy and added that the city “cannot thank Represenative Walker enough” for the work she’s done at the state level.
Harp also noted that there have been 12 homicides in the city so far in 2014, five less than there were during the same period in 2013.
“That’s still too many, but we have made progress,” she said.
Walker said she and Harp “embarked on a journey of trying to work and save our children in the state of Connecticut” about seven years ago, referring to Harp’s previous service as a state senator.
“The missing link for our children were opportunities for after-school, opportunities for education and opportunities for employment,” she said. “To us this is a wonderful partnership between the state and city. New Haven is making a strong statement that its children come first.”
A city press release indicates that the funds will divided into three categories, including youth job readiness and training, youth leadership and various youth violence prevention initiatives related to factors such as physical health and emotional and behavorial health. The release also noted that the Youth Violence Prevention Grant is a “key component” of the comprehensive youth agenda the Board of Alders set in 2012.
Other agencies receiving grants included:
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern
Connecticut, $50,000.
• Boys & Girls Club of New Haven, $10,000.
• Breakthru! Inc., $40,000.
• New Haven Family Alliance, $35,000.
• Junta for Progressive Action, $35,752.
• EIR Urban Youth Boxing Inc. $30,000.
• Solar Youth, $50,000.
“We know youth violence and hopeless have risen to crisis levels in New Haven and that our young people deserve better,” Eidelson said. “We’ll continue fighting to strengthen our network of youth spaces and services citywide.”
Press release 1 December 2014
About the Author: Follow Evan on Twitter: @evanmlips.
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1 DECEMBER 2014
Most American kids who are 17 or 18 are thinking about things like senior dances and college plans.
But thousands of teens in foster care are thinking about where they're going to live and how they're going to get by on their own. That's why a push is underway in about half the states to extend the age of foster care to 21-years-old.
Justin Collins always wanted a little brother. He has one in Shaquielle Crutchfield. This summer Shaquielle got to take his first family vacation. But he had a pretty sad story before he ended up with the Collins family. He bounced around in several foster homes until he ended up with their neighbor.
Jill Collins said, "When he was a foster kid down the street, we used to see him at the oddest times."
Jill worried about Shaquielle, so she and her family welcomed him to visit, use the family computer for homework, and play video games with her son. "Then he started calling me mom, my husband, dad," said Jill.
Eventually they found Shaquielle has clinical depression and he almost ended his life.
Shaquielle's 18 now, which means he's aged out of foster care. But he's found a safe haven, a family with the Collins. The risk to young people who age out of foster care is great. 20 percent are homeless, 25 percent are incarcerated, and only three percent earn college degrees.
The federal government makes funding available to states which try to change those outcomes by extending support to foster youth until they're 21; 26 states have that extended support. Job and family services director Moira Weir says it's not just a money issue, it's up to those states to come up with programs which help take the place of parents.
Moira said, "Imagine at 18, starting to think about not only, 'Am I graduating?' But, 'I need to think about how I'm going to support myself, how am I'm going to pay for food.'"
Trenton Stadtmiller will have to think about it soon. He'll be 18 and a high school graduate next spring. Trenton hopes to become a teacher and feels good about his chances. Shaquielle is going to college now, and recently started a job in a fast food restaurant. Moira says if more people would support foster youth there would be more positive outcomes like theirs.
Shaquielle found someone just when he needed it, "Words can't explain it. I love these guys. They've always been there for me, like angels, guardian angels."
What's most important for foster youth is adult connections which give them stability and good guidance. When children age out of foster care, they're no longer eligible for assistance through the foster care system.
A study by the University of Chicago showed the financial benefits of extending the age of foster support outweigh the cost to government. That's because more young people would graduate from high school, go on to college, and earn more money in their lifetimes.
Sheila Gray
27 November 2014
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