Encourage your colleagues to subcribe to E-lert!

To ensure that E-lert! reaches you each month, please add us to your safe senders list.

See past editions of E-lert! at http://listserve.icfi.com/read/?forum=e-lert

The following new or updated publications and resources are now available from Child Welfare Information Gateway. Use the links listed below, or contact us to request a print copy, if available.

What’s New

Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice Web Section

Find a variety of resources for recruiting, preparing, and retaining foster and adoptive parents. These resources can help you in your work: reuniting children and families, arranging interjurisdictional placement and intercountry adoptions, encouraging openness, caring for the caregiver, and addressing secondary trauma for workers—all in the context of culturally competent practice.

www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/preplacement

Syntheses of Discretionary Grant Outcomes and Lessons Learned

The Children’s Bureau awards discretionary grants for demonstration projects that test innovative approaches and develop knowledge on a wide range of child welfare issues. Syntheses of the findings from specific clusters of projects funded under a single funding opportunity announcement are published online along with site visit reports. The syntheses describe grantees’ common challenges, strategies, outcomes, and lessons learned, and include a bibliography of grantee products.

www.childwelfare.gov/management/funding/funding_sources/cbreports.cfm

Accreditation and Standard-Setting Organizations

Use this list to find contact information for national organizations that provide agency or member accreditation and standard-setting for child welfare services.

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/reslist/rl_dsp.cfm?svcID=164&rate_chno=W-00024

Updates

Domestic Violence and the Child Welfare System

Understand the extent of the overlap between domestic violence and child maltreatment, some of the effects of family violence on child witnesses, and the trend toward a more collaborative, communitywide response to domestic violence. This bulletin also features promising practices from States and local communities.

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/domestic_violence

State and Tribal CFSP/APSR Information

Access all the information and forms you need to develop State and Tribal Child and Family Service Plans (CFSPs) and Annual Progress and Services Reports (APSRs) in one central location. Available tools include technical assistance documents and materials, as well as references to specific laws, policies, and checklists that relate to the development of the CFSP/APSR.

Tools for States: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs_fund/toolkit/state.htm
Tools for Tribes: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs_fund/toolkit/tribal.htm

In This Month’s CBX

The June issue of Children’s Bureau Express (CBX) spotlights “Engaging Fathers” and the importance of fathers and paternal relatives in the lives of children involved with the child welfare system. Articles focus on federally funded efforts to study and promote father involvement, as well as promising practices from the field.

Also featured is a brief video that describes the features and benefits of CBX, which you can share with your colleagues.

CBX covers news, issues, and trends of interest to professionals and policymakers in the interrelated fields of child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption.

cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov

Did You Know?

Federal laws provide standards and guidelines for child welfare issues, but States’ laws and regulations govern those issues. Learn about States’ laws by searching Information Gateway’s State Statutes database. You can find information in the database in two ways—either click on one of more than 30 titles related to child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption for a short introduction, or search the database for the details of a specific State’s statutes.

www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state

Connect With Information Gateway on Facebook

Child Welfare Information Gateway is on Facebook! Visit our page to learn about the latest child welfare resources, news, and events. Become a fan today and start connecting with others in child welfare and related professions.

www.facebook.com/childwelfare

Since 1996, Educational Tutorial Services has been catering to the foster care system. In the majority of cases, foster care children have been moved from home to home throughout the course of their life. This leads to an ever-changing academic situation due to different teachers, curricula, and atmosphere.

In turn, for many children this has led to traumatic experiences that can greatly affect the way that they learn.

Our goal at Educational Tutorial Services is to make sure that foster children have the attention they need in order to succeed in an academic environment. Since many schools lack the skills to cater to foster children, Educational Tutorial Services has stepped forward to fill this niche.

Educational Tutorial Services collaborates with both schools and agencies in order to make sure that foster children are being taken care of. Subsequently, we then set each child up with a professionally trained and/or certified tutor who best suits the child’s needs.

Benefits of our services include:

• Free tutoring to the majority of foster children; paid by the child’s agency or organization
• A set-up time of no more than 48 hours.
• Tutors available for students grade K – 12 and college.
• Nationwide service.

As you can see, Educational Tutorial Services has a lot to offer foster care children. If you are involved with the foster care system in any way we would love to speak with you!

• Zachary VanZyll has been working hard the last few evenings with his boy scout troop–installing shelving in the FOSTER KIDS CLOSET. Thank you Zach!

• Pinkerton Dance provided free tickets to foster families to their Alice In Dance Wonderland show. Thank you Molly Walt and everyone at Pinkerton! Much appreciated.

• And, last but not least, thank you to the foster families and relative care givers who help children and families! If you can, come to our Coalition meetings and help us as we work together.

Come help us plan for more foster homes in Carson City.
Come help us support foster parents and foster kids.

1545 E. 5th St. noon.
Every THIRD Weds.
Who do you know? Who can you invite?
Tell a friend! We know you care!
Help us expand the network of caring people!
More hands means more gets done!

Encourage your colleagues to subcribe to E-lert!
To ensure that E-lert! reaches you each month, please add us to your safe senders list.
See past editions of E-lert! at http://listserve.icfi.com/read/?forum=e-lert

The following new or updated publications and resources are now available from Child Welfare Information Gateway. Use the links listed below, or contact us to request a print copy, if available.
May Is National Foster Care Month
National Foster Care Month is a time to acknowledge the 463,000 American children and youth in foster care and the family members, foster parents, volunteers, mentors, child welfare professionals, and policymakers who help them find permanent homes and connections. Visit Information Gateway’s National Foster Care Month website and find:
Resources about partnering with youth, kin, foster parents, and community members and within child welfare agencies to help youth achieve permanency
Information related to foster care and permanency from the Children’s Bureau Training and Technical Assistance Network
Personal stories and photos from the Children’s Bureau Adoption Opportunity grantees of youth and families who have successfully achieved permanence
Links to digital stories from the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections about youth and child welfare workers’ experiences and perspectives
www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth
What’s New
Supervising Child Welfare Services Web Section
Effective supervision enhances staff performance and retention, and can lead to improved outcomes for children and families. Find resources on many aspects of supervision, including clinical and administrative supervision, improving staff performance and retention through supervision, data management, supervisory development, tools, and more.
www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/mgmt_supervision
Laws Related to Adoption Web Section
Adoption is regulated by State laws that comply with Federal requirements, and these laws vary from State to State. This section provides resources on laws that apply to both domestic and intercountry adoption.
www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/laws
For Pregnant Women, Expectant Fathers, and Birth Parents Web Section
Use the information in this section to help pregnant women, expectant fathers, and birth parents make decisions about adoption. Legal considerations are included.
www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/birth/for
Accountability in Child Welfare
The latest issue of A Closer Look focuses on accountability is now available online. A Closer Look is a series of short reports from the National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care that spotlights issues addressed by public child welfare agencies and their partners in implementing systems of care approaches.
www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/acloserlook/accountability
Syntheses of Site Visit Reports on Discretionary Grant Outcomes and Lessons Learned
The Children’s Bureau has developed syntheses of knowledge gained from site visits to specific grant clusters funded under a single program announcement. The first synthesis of site visit reports, Field Initiated Training Projects for Effective Child Welfare Practice With Hispanic Children and Families, is now available on the Information Gateway website. Four grants were awarded to universities in States with large Hispanic/Latino populations.
www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/funding/funding_sources/hispanic.cfm
In This Month’s CBX
National Foster Care Month, with its “Partnering With Families and Youth to Achieve Permanency” message, is the spotlight topic in the May issue of Children’s Bureau Express (CBX). Four articles focus on CB-funded Adoption Opportunities grantees and their work with youth. Other articles link to information on the Family to Family initiative and placement stability.
CBX covers news, issues, and trends of interest to professionals and policymakers in the interrelated fields of child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption.
cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov
Subscribe to CBX at www.childwelfare.gov/admin/subscribe
Did You Know?
Finding Information and Resources on Achieving and Maintaining Permanency
The Information Gateway website has a section devoted to achieving and maintaining permanency, with resources to support professionals in ensuring a legally permanent, nurturing family for every child in out-of-home care through family reunification, adoption from foster care, guardianship, and permanent placements with relatives. The section includes information on legal and court issues, preparing and supporting children and youth, interjurisdictional placements, postpermanency services, and special issues in achieving permanency for older youth, children from minority groups, and children with disabilities.
www.childwelfare.gov/permanency
Connect With Information Gateway on Facebook
Child Welfare Information Gateway is on Facebook. Visit our page to learn about the latest child welfare resources, news, and events. Become a fan today and start connecting with others in child welfare and related professions.
www.facebook.com/childwelfare

Contact Information
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Phone: 800.394.3366
Email: info@childwelfare.gov
Website: www.childwelfare.gov
E-lert! is a free service of the Children’s Bureau/ACF/HHS and Child Welfare Information Gateway.

A weekly update from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition

May 11, 2010
It has been a big week for text4baby at the national, state and local levels! Text4baby team members presented an update for friends at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who have contributed so much to the development of the program. I also had the privilege of seeing the text4baby teams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Palm Beach County, Florida in action during community-wide kick-off events. The energy, enthusiasm and creative promotion by these groups is truly impressive. Visit the partner portal to see photos from the events!

Arlene Remick
National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition

Welcome New Partners!

Our network saw tremendous expansion this week! New outreach partners include Nevada State Health Division, Wyoming Department of Health, Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, Inc. (Littleton, NH), Baby Lifestyles (Pleasant Hill, CA), Cleveland Department of Public Health (Cleveland, OH), Coconino County Health Department (Flagstaff, AZ), First 5 Solano (Fairfield, CA), Johnson County Public Health (Iowa City, IA), Marathon County Health Department (Wausau, WI), Springfield Department of Health and Human Services (Springfield, MA), Aetna, and AMERIGROUP Corporation. Welcome! For a complete list of partners, visit http://text4baby.ning.com/notes/Partners.

Subscriber Update

We are excited to report that we now have 37,235 text4baby enrollees, with 95% of enrollees reporting that they would recommend the service to a friend.

CONNECT WITH US:

Become a fan on Facebook
Join us on Ning
Follow us on Twitter
SHARE THIS EMAIL:

CONTACT US

GENERAL INQUIRIES:
INFO@TEXT4BABY.ORG
PARTNERSHIP INQUIRIES:
PARTNERS@TEXT4BABY.ORG
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:
MEDIA@TEXT4BABY.ORG

View percentage of women in each state enrolled in text4baby weighted by population.
View subscriber breakdown by pregnancy status and language.

Partner Spotlight

The Preeclampsia Foundation is utilizing “The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia” to encourage expectant mothers to use text4baby as a vital educational tool. The Promise Walks, held in 22 locations nationwide, begin every May in conjunction with Preeclampsia Awareness Month. The Promise Walks bring together diverse communities to improve patient and public awareness of a serious condition that sometimes occurs during pregnancy and can affect both the mother and the baby’s health. Causing high blood pressure and high protein levels, untreated preeclampsia can be fatal for the mother and/or the baby and can lead to long-term health problems. Text4baby posters will be displayed along the Promise Walk as a key component in the drive to enhance patient education and improve health outcomes. For more information, please visit www.promisewalk.org.

Text4baby Media
Free Text4baby Service for Moms and Moms-to-Be is Growing up Fast

Hillary Chen, Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, posted a blog about text4baby, citing recent milestones and achievements. She emphasizes how the program links women to key resources, such as the Prenatal Helpline and National Hunger Hotline and highlights her trip to Philadelphia for their text4baby kick-off event. Read more.

National Civic Participation Director Speaks to Local Nonprofits
Text4baby was highlighted at the Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence’s Fifth Annual conference in Memphis, TN. According to the Memphis Flyer, Sonal Shah, director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, highlighted text4baby as an example of a successful public-private collaboration for social innovation. Read more.
Upcoming Webinars

Text4baby Fundraising Webinar
Text4baby is pleased to co-host our May 19 webinar with nonprofit fundraising consultant Sandy Lopacki. Ms. Lopacki will provide tips and information on developing and maintaining relationships with potential text4baby funders.

When: Wednesday, May 19, 2:00-3:00 PM EST
Register for the webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/714630843. Once registered, you will receive the webinar login and dial-in information.

Intro to Text4baby Webinar
New to text4baby? Join us for an introduction to the program and learn how your organization can become an outreach partner. Partners will find this webinar helpful to learn more about the program and ask questions.

When: Wednesday, May 12, 2:00-3:00 PM EST

Register for the webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/497102826. Once registered, you will receive the webinar login and dial-in information.

mHealth Highlight
Policymakers push for telehealth reimbursements
A recent article in Government Health IT raises a concern with the lack of reimbursement for telehealth products and services. The current healthcare financial system does not offer a model to support the increasing consumer demand for mobile and electronic devices. However, it is recognized that the use of mobile devices holds a promise for more personalized healthcare delivery focused on prevention. According to the report, a reformed reimbursement policy is needed to promote innovations in mobile health technology and deliver quality healthcare that meets the needs of consumers. Read more.
Visit www.text4baby.org for more information about the campaign.
For more on maternal and child health, visit the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition.
About text4baby
Text4baby is made possible through a broad, public-private partnership that includes government, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, tribal agencies and non-profit organizations. Founding partners include HMHB, Voxiva, CTIA – The Wireless Foundation and Grey Healthcare Group (a WPP company). Johnson & Johnson is the founding sponsor, and premier sponsors include WellPoint, Pfizer and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. U.S. government partners include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense Military Health System. The mobile health platform is provided by Voxiva and free messaging services are generously provided by participating wireless service providers. Implementation partners include BabyCenter, Danya International, Syniverse Technologies, Keynote Systems and The George Washington University. MTV Networks is a media sponsor.

You are receiving this communication because you previously expressed interest in the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition and our text4baby program. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click on the link below.

Information is reported as provided and does not necessarily represent the view of or the endorsement by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. A complete copy of HMHB’s disclaimer is available at http://www.hmhb.org/disclaimer.html.

Unsubscribe daquino@health.nv.gov | Update your profile | Forward to a friend

*|Text4baby Tuesday|*
Copyright (C) 2010 National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition All rights reserved.

The Future is in Our Hands

A new page for information-> FYI – (get conference forms)

Our Mission

By providing easy access to services and support for all foster parents, we will improve the lives of the children we seek to serve. Through our ongoing educational support programs, mentoring programs, arts and athletic programs, we will open doors, create opportunities and provide a special place where these children will not just survive their difficult circumstances but grow and flourish.

SAFF is located at:
3376 Lakeside Court
Reno, Nevada 89509

775 828-9977 Office
775 828-9976 FAX
501(c) 3

CASA volunteers in Douglas and Carson–we’re sending this to you today…to all foster families soon…
So get the word out to your casa kid families now.

Pinkerton Dance Academy has once again offered CASA of Carson City the opportunity to give away 50 FREE tickets to foster families and to families providing relative care to children who are “in care”–in state custody under NRS 432b.
This time its to Ayako’s Dance Studio’s performance of “Alice in Dance Wonderland.”

Here is how this works…

1. The foster family or relative caregiver should email casaofcc@earthlink.net with the words “ALICE DANCE TICKETS” in the subject line. State how many tickets. Everyone living in the home of the foster family or relative family is invited–not just the child(ren) in state custody. Write to us the LAST NAME that you will use when picking up the tickets. Use the Foster family name or the relative care-giver’s last name. Finally, write out your email address in the body of the email.
NUMBER OF TICKETS?
LAST NAME TO USE?
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?

2. CASA of CC will email you back confirming. There are only 50 tickets so we will send out another blast when the tickets are gone.

3. You arrive at the Carson City Community Center Friday May 28 6:30 or before. Show starts at 7pm. Those confirmed to receive tickets will go to WILL CALL and give the LAST NAME and say “I am hear for the CASA tickets”. We do not use the first name of the child in state custody and you do not need to either. The foster family or relative caregiver should use the foster family or relative caregiver’s last name.

4. Note, we plan to complete this at least a week before the show so that we are not providing the list to them at the last minute.

5. Have fun! Remind the children that this is a dance interpretation of Alice…not necessarily a musical or play.

Chris Bayer
Director
CASA of CC

Phew! I did not realize that I had sooo much content in this site.

I started by adding back in the links to other sites where you can find some help.

If you know of any other links that you think would be useful, please comment and let me know.

Sorry everybody. I was hacked and I’m gonna have to re-add my content. Please be patient, it took me quite awhile to get all the info in here the first time.


I promise I’ll get this site whipped back into shape asap!