Back to School Advocacy
“My Child is Scared to Go Back to Class!” Speak Up to Help Students Succeed Is your child afraid to go back to class? A new school year can be an anxious time for any child. For children with hard histories, this transition can be even more complicated. As a parent, you can advocate for […]
Day in the Life of a Foster Family
When you are caring for a child from foster care, unexpected challenges can arise. Step into a day in the life of a foster family with Chosen Care Manager Bethany Hall to learn about their challenges and how to support them. This is not the story of one foster parent, but rather a combination of […]
Parenting Tips: Summer Advice that Can Bring Structure and Make Free Time Count
Summer is filled with fun and games, but it also has frustrating moments. There’s often dysregulation in the house (tantrums, defiance, whining and disrespect.) Why is that? The sudden lack of structure over summer break can cause “bad behaviors” to emerge. The good news is we as parents and caregivers can do something about it. […]
Food Hoarding: Feasting on Control
Unwrapping the Powerful Gift of Generosity in Your Life
Recently, I wrote about “giving yourself.” In this season of giving, your inbox is probably flooded with asks to give, since 70% of all charitable giving happens in the month of December. I want to encourage you to perhaps think about giving a little bit differently. Last week, I listened to a leadership podcast by […]
No Replacements Necessary
“How would you feel if Grammy walked away from you? I feel like I wasn’t wanted.” This is what one of my daughters tearfully said to me about sixteen years after she was adopted. We were standing in our family room on the day of a school discussion that triggered big emotions. She was asking […]
Bridging the Gap: How to Improve Birth Family Visits
Birth family visits are one of the most challenging aspects of foster care. They are confusing for foster parents, not to mention how emotional they are for birth parents. Sometimes, foster children look forward to these temporary reunions with their family but are wrecked at the brevity. Other times, children dread these visits, as they […]
Parenting Endurance
“Perception is the dictator of endurance or how hard something is.” – Alex Hutchinson Alex Hutchinson is an award-winning journalist who specializes in the science of endurance fitness. Stemming from his experience as a competitive distance runner, he recently wrote Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. In an interview about the […]
Quick Facts about Mental Health in Foster Youth
BY STACI THOMAS Sadly, mental health is something that is not always given the attention it needs. This extends to mental health in teens as well. When foster parenting teens, a good first step to address this problem is to become aware of it. With the stories of neglect, abuse and trauma that we hear […]
The Adoptive Difference: New Evidence on How Adopted Children Perform in School
by Nicholas Zill W. Bradford Wilcox, @WILCOXNMP A child who has been abandoned or removed from the care of both birth parents can gain much from being adopted into a loving family. Adoptive families typically provide the children in their care with residence in a safe, supportive neighborhood, attendance at a well-functioning, high-achieving school, and love, emotional […]
One on One Time
Children with a trauma history don’t receive correction well unless they have connection to a safe, loving caregiver. As a result, it is essential that parents be intentional about taking time to connect with their hurting children every day. Unfortunately, as parents, we tend to focus on correction first. Cindy Lee, Executive Director of the […]
Changing the Game Plan
Everyone taking care of children has experienced a time when they felt frustrated, unsure of what to do. As caregivers, foster parents, and adoptive parents, changing your approach can make a big difference. In the 2018 College Football National Championship, the University of Georgia faced the University of Alabama. At the start of […]
