When I Say My Kids Are Climbing The Walls…

I mean they are CLIMBING the walls…. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('e78002ed-9148-4952-8ae9-05885c96b19c'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijJkvOuqZHnrqBGQ0xnUzPmcS6thFomp3o7WBpSPoQBI-fkgWB6reIhEyrx_MUCBRfs3VjzrvwNLKZ2_onIytAQJTYvAK7UXTPU81HzWGVjjNq5qLqapboxP-caAKT-GCfL0V5Al-YTA/?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"> Seriously folks, I am a trained professional over here. Don’t let your kids do this at home…unless you don’t mind grubby footprints on all of your doorjambs.   Feel free to comment on my serious lack...

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I’m Still Standing

After all tomorrow is another day…Scarlett O’Hara...

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Therapeutic 101

Obviously I still have lingering “big feelings” that revolve around food and not being properly fed, because I found this part of [C - - - - - - -‘s first name removed 8/01/20011 4:11 pm] post to be quite triggering. I find the thought of messing with a child’s food to be unimaginable, regardless of the circumstances. This is the space where I had the quote  that [C- - - - - - First name removed 8/01/2011] asked me to remove, even though I believe that the way I used the quote was permissible under fair use. I have no interest in being involved in blog war. I was merely trying to have a discussion. [S- - - - - - U- T- - - - - - - Blog name removed on my own accord 8/01/2011 4:18 pm] Therapeutic 101 [link removed with out being asked 7/29/2011 12:01am]  And this is what I...

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CHILDMYTHS: Adoption, Trust, Complacency, and the Barahona Case

  In this report, while acknowledging all the many problems of caseworkers, including poor training and heavy caseloads, the jury members emphasized a problem that is prevalent but rarely mentioned. They referred to it as a bias of trust and complacency. The bias of trust stressed by the grand jury report is the assumption on the part of the social work profession that adoptive parents are by definition good people, and that they cannot be the source of harm to the children in their care. Without wishing to accuse an entire professional group, I must agree strongly that this belief characterizes many adoption caseworkers and the staffs of adoption agencies. All adoptive homes are described as loving and nurturing, as if adoption were synonymous with excellent child-rearing. Adoption-oriented...

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Of Kids, Kittens and Attachment

As I mentioned in my last post we brought a couple of kittens home the other day. My kids have been asking for a cat for a long time. So when a friend mentioned that she had kittens (well, she didn’t have them herself…her cat did) I packed up all of my kids and took them to pick out a kitten. Actually two, because even kittens need company and just like kids two together are always easier to care for than one by themself, at least the way I see it. Obviously my kids were very excited to go and bring not one, but two kittens home to love and have for their very own. For me and my friend the process of going and taking two kittens away from their...

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RAD Behavior Checklist

Have you ever read a RAD check list? A behavior checklist for RAD symptoms was taken from Liz Randolph's RADQ assessment. A professional assessment is necessary to determine whether or not a child has an Attachment disorder. This checklist can help you identify areas of potential problem. It is not meant to substitute for a professional assessment and treatment plan. The best person to complete the checklist is the main female care giver of the child, answering the items according to the child’s behaviors seen over the past six months. Circle the items if they are frequently or often true. If you find that more than a few items (more than five or so) have been circled, your child may be experiencing difficulties that require professional assistance. If, in addition to several items...

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Report: Foster teens fall through cracks, cost to society called 'tremendous'

  The age group with the highest number of people entering the system is 15 to 17, he said. "People think of Children and Youth as the abuse and neglect system," Mr. Cherna said. Instead, it is older adolescents Mr. Pertman believes programs like those in Allegheny County are an important part of the solution, though not the end goal. That, he said, is getting even the older children in the system permanent homes. "The new reality is that you don't have to form families with just little kids," Mr. Pertman said. "The way we've been doing [adoptions] is suited for little kids who look like them. It's not like that anymore. "The idea of this report is to reinvigorate the discussion. We've got to do something today. If we keep waiting for tomorrow, all we're doing...

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Today

Today I became an official mother of a teenager. She was born on my ‘sister’ Jackie’s 40th, she would have been 53 today. Today I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have known and loved them both.   The little girls went to work with me. CoCo refuses to cross over any of the of the mesh covered resi-mats, and will only scoot (since she still doesn’t crawl) not walk over the the firmer mats. Forget about getting anywhere NEAR the trampolines!  Sensory issues…much? Amélie on the other hand, made her first appearance at the gym the day after she was born.  It shows. You cant get her OFF the trampolines…or the...

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The loneliest children in the world | Percolated Paradox

  That people like me don't exist and that foster care is a magical healing place that saves children from horrible people.  People do not want to know what happens to American foster children because then they will feel guilty and no one wants to feel guilty.  It's easier if you just pretend it doesn't exist then you don't have do anything about it.  It's easier if you just pretend WE don't exist. But we do exist.  Foster care is creating thousands of scared, damaged, angry, lonely souls who can't speak the same language as the rest of the world so we end up drifting around searching for love and family.  We end up searching for "home" for the rest of our lives and never finding it.  No one will ever see us because we will forever remain invisible unless...

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