Organizational Development

National Volunteer Week begins today.  National Volunteer Week 2013 is celebrated April 21-27.  It is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about demonstrating to the nation that by working together, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplish our goals.   National Volunteer […]

After suffering through broken or non-existent family relationships, we encourage teens in foster care to strive for “independence” and “self-sufficiency”.  We put them in independent living programs and teach independent living skills yet none of us can be completely self-sufficient or independent.  Everyone needs a support system. Our focus should be to help foster teens

Each Thursday in April our blog posts will focus on the theme “Throw-Back Thursday” and I will share past blog posts with you.    Today’s Throw-Back Thursday theme is academic enrichment.   Education is as integral part of the solution to achieve better long-term outcomes for youth in foster care.  Foster youth deserve access to

A professional portfolio and a foster care life book are not the same.   Both a professional portfolio and a foster care can help teens increase self-awareness and self-confidence. Both a professional portfolio and a foster care life book document a teen’s history, celebrate their achievements, and allow them to highlight their skills and abilities. Both

Resiliency = the ability to cope with, adapt to, and overcome challenges   We do not live in a perfect world.  Life will always have challenges, some of which are unavoidable.  We overcome life’s obstacles by remaining open, flexible, and willing to adapt to change.   Teens in foster care very often have encountered more

I was unaware that April 10th was Siblings Day.  I did not know that the Siblings Day Foundation believes that establishing Siblings Day will benefit of families, communities and the nation just like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  This new knowledge got me to thinking…thinking about siblings separated by foster care.    According to the

Remember the story from a couple months ago of the adoptive mom/photographer’s ‘newborn’ photo shoot with her 13-year-old son that went viral?  Great…keep that in mind and see request below.   Our Pack A Backpack Drive™ to donate backpacks, duffel bags, and luggage launched on April 8th but today I want to add another item to

Today is National Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R.)   What is D.E.A.R.? D.E.A.R. stands for “Drop Everything and Read,” a national month-long celebration of reading designed to remind folks of all ages to make reading a priority activity in their lives. Because, what’s more fun(damental) than reading, really? When is D.E.A.R. celebrated? D.E.A.R. programs

Each Thursday in April our blog posts will focus on the theme “Throw-Back Thursday” and I will share past blog posts with you.    Today’s Throw-Back Thursday theme is “foster care in the movies”.    My favorites: The Blind Side Gracie’s Choice on Lifetime Raising Izzie on GMC Somebody’s Child on GMC Finding A Family on Hallmark Channel Baby

Today is my birthday – and it is a BIG one! I’m really excited about it. “BIG” birthdays for over 20,000 teens annually means an exit from the foster care rolls whether they are sufficiently prepared to make it on their own or not.   On another note, too many other foster children spend too