Welcome to New Foundations’ quarterly care. We are developing web pages to display our newsletter. Our objective is to keep our staff, foster parents, children and other social service professionals informed as to what is happening in each of our offices. Since our newsletter will be available to view on our website, we will use first names only in conjunction with the children placed in our children’s drawings and paintings, so please submit any artwork you would like to have posted to your case manager, supervisor or recruiter. We would also like to hear from our foster families and our teenagers about your experiences with New Foundations and the foster care system, so we also encourage you to submit your accounts or stories to your case manager, supervisor or recruiter as well. By sharing your accounts on our website, we would like to provide a better understanding of the rewards and challenges of foster parenting to prospective foster parents and other interested parties.
About New Foundations
New Foundations is a private, non-profit child
welfare agency that is licensed by the Department of Public Welfare
to provide service to children and families in Philadelphia and
the surrounding counties. We currently serve 234 children and their
foster and biological families in the following ways:
- Foster Care Services
- Kinship Care Services
- Aftercare Services
- Adoption Services
- SCOH Services
Program Office News
New
Foundations successfully underwent its annual inspection by the
Department of Human Services in September. We did very well in the
inspection and continue in our pursuit to provide high-quality
services to the children and families in Philadelphia and the
surrounding counties.
On October
29 and 30, New Foundations’ staff took part in a training on
Cultural Diversity and Competence. Trainers Kim Olver and Sylvester
Baugh provided information in an interesting and enjoyable format.
The class was enjoyed by all. New Foundations has successfully
moved into our new office located at 7210 Rising Sun Avenue, Suite
A, Philadelphia, PA 19111. The move took place in late October. The
renovations are mostly completed now and the office is fully
functional. We hope our children, families and resource parents will
feel more comfortable in the new office which provides more space
for everyone, although it may be a little farther away from some of
our homes.
Philadelphia
Office
The
Philadelphia office is doing a magnificent job as they continue to
manage over 150 children in foster and kinship care. Hats off to
the Philadelphia Office that is currently fully staffed with case
managers, secretaries, and transporters. The Philadelphia office
works together as an effective team with the support and guidance of
supervisors Deatrice Fields and Sherron Samuels. New Foundations is
sad to see case manager Nicole Lee, leave and re-locate to Arizona.
We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors and
accomplishments. Good Luck Nicole Lee.
The
Philadelphia team works to achieve permanency by reuniting children
with their biological families as well as through adoption and
permanent guardianship. We give special thanks to all of our foster
parents who provide nurture and love to our children in need and are
a wonderful asset to our team.
The Philadelphia team continues to acknowledge
exceptional and outstanding foster parents on a monthly basis. The
foster parent of the month receives an award certificate along with
a gift card from Wal-mart or a super market. The foster parent of
the month is decided upon by the case managers nominating one foster
parent on their case load list and speaking highly of the foster
parent to the other staff members as to why that foster parent
should win foster parent of the month. The other staff members then
vote for the best candidate. Congratulations to Shadeen Holmes who
won foster parent of the month for September 2008, Calamity Caldwell
for October 2008, and Catherine & Joseph Stanton for November 2008.
Keep up the good work foster parents!!!!!!!!
The
children that we provide services for here at New Foundations are
our pride and joy. We are delighted and thrilled when our children
achieve and stand out in areas and activities, despite the
disruptions of life. We salute Alexander for starting his first job
at Shop-Rite supermarket, and to his sister Destiny for being
accepted into a Science Academy School entering the ninth grade. In
addition, Solomon was recently appointed as a Jr. Deacon at his
local church, while Vishna continues to win trophies and awards for
her soccer playing abilities, as well being on honor roll by
receiving all A’s on her report card.
As
the children and the foster parents excel, so do the staff here at
the Philadelphia office. Congratulations to casemanager Nafeesah
Reed on her marriage. Best wishes to you and your husband as you
begin a new life together. Joyce Palmer secretary and Najah Knight,
case aide continues their studies at Community College of
Philadelphia majoring in Liberal Arts, and Human Services.
Swarthmore Office
As the weather gets a
little cooler, the leaves change color and fall off their branches,
scarecrows have greeted us in doorways, and pumpkins have adorned
the stoops, Swarthmore Office is preparing for the holiday season.
In September, we had resource parent Mr. Rodriguez and his colleague
Dr. Liu present "Eye Health" for an interesting and
informative Foster Parent Training. In October, we completed our Annual Home Inspections and re-certified our resource
parents and their homes. November started the Traditional Holiday
Season as we enjoyed Thanksgiving and begin to plan for Christmas.
Recruitment
The
Recruitment Unit continues to approve resource homes in both
offices. Nine new homes were approved during the last quarter.
Recruiters, Kirsten Kovalchick and Ebony Fowler, have settled in
their new Rising Sun office. Recruiter Kwanda Smith remains in the
Swarthmore office along with supervisor Sandie Caulder.
The
recruitment unit joined with other New Foundations employees for an
enjoyable and instructive training on Cultural Competence in
October. Sandie Caulder also attended a software demonstration by
Innovative Solutions in October. Kwanda attended the Lower Gywnedd
Countrie Picnic this fall and has also been busy at the Lansdowne
YMCA providing information on foster care and adoption.
Services to Children in Their Own Homes (SCOH)
During this
quarter we had seven successful discharges. Our families were very
appreciative of SCOH services provided by New Foundations, Inc. We
continue to collaborate with The Department of Human Services to
ensure safety for all of our families. The SCOH unit is looking
forward to the Holiday Season and bringing joy to our families. We
continue to wish Wenonah Carney and Margie Hayes much success in
their educational endeavors.
Adoption
The adoption
unit continues to do a wonderful job achieving permanency for
children in foster care. Supervisor, Amy Morris, reports that the
adoption unit is currently working on thirty-nine Performance Based
Contract (PBC) adoptions through the Philadelphia Department of
Human Services. Through the SWAN contract, they are currently
working on eight units of service with Delaware County CYS. They
also have four waiting family profiles in study. In addition, they
are currently working on proposals to provide Post-Permanency
Adoption Services and Child Specific Recruitment. Amy attended a
training on FACES and Risk Assessment on September 30, 2008, which
are assessments used for post-permanency services. John Sandy is the
South East Regional Technical Assistant for New Foundations, Inc.
Adoption
Coordinators, Rachel Buxbaum and Joy Lander, attended the SWAN SE
Regional meeting on September 9, 2008. The topic was
“Post-Permanency Services 101.” Amy and Joy attended the SWAN
Quarterly meeting on October 28, 2008. They attended the following
workshop: “Child Specific Recruitment (CSR) and Family
Engagement-Putting it all Together.” Joy attended the New Unit
Provider meeting for child preparation and post-permanency services
on November 18, 2008.
Amy
continues to attend the quarterly DHS Supervisor's forums, which
have been focusing on developing the family profile, child
preparation, and Act 160. Amy, Rachel, and Joy also continue to
attend monthly Delaware Valley Adoption Council meetings. Meetings
this quarter included a matching event and the following trainings:
“Making Ends Meet” and “Trauma and Attachment.” In addition,
adoption staff continue to attend training through PCCYFS. Amy,
Rachel, and Joy also participated in Cultural Competence training at
New Foundations, Inc. on October 30, 2008.
if you, or
anyone you are connected with is interested in learning more about
adopting a child, please contact our adoption unit at (215)
203-8733.
Aftercare
Aftercare
Services are provided to children and families who have achieved
permanency through Reunification and Permanent Legal Custodianship
(PLC). Services are provided by New Foundations Aftercare case
managers for 12 months post permanency. New Foundations Aftercare
program services 27 families.
DON’T FORGET…
Don’t forget that we are always looking for new foster parents
so we are better able to match the children coming into our care
with qualified and caring foster families. If you, or anyone you
are connected with is interested in learning more about foster parenting,
please contact our recruitment or case management staff at (215)
203-8733 or (610) 876-4474 or 1-877-NFI-4KID (1-877-634-4543) or
visit our website at www.nfi4kids.org.
The Importance of Family Dinner
The holiday season is approaching fast and as we begin to focus on
our festive dinner menus, we must also remember the most important
aspect of this season; spending time to connect with your family.
Many of us only take advantage of this during family gatherings and
special events, but research has shown that the benefits of having
dinner together regularly can last a lifetime. Some of these
benefits include: keeping children on a consistent routine;
reopening the lines of communication between parents and children
and introducing a great way to have low cost fun with your children.
Encouraging family dinner will help your children learn how
to keep a daily routine. A child’s week can be very hectic and they
may not have many chances to slow down and spend daily time with
their family. However, if there is a regular scheduled time for
family dinner every night or every other night, your child will
become used to having that regular contact with their family. This
can encourage a positive parent-child relationship that will last
throughout their lifetime. Family dinner will prove to be a relaxing
and stress free time for both parent and child to unwind and enjoy
each other’s company
Having family dinner time is also an excellent way for parents to
positively influence their children through open communication. This
is the perfect time of the day to talk with your children and find
out who they really are. You will be able to catch them right when
their day is coming to an end. So try to encourage them to open up
by asking them questions like about how their day went. Be creative
and try getting them to tell you one exciting or funny thing that
happened to them during their day. You can even include this as a
regular ice breaker every night so your children can get used to
doing this. You can find out a lot about your children by just
listening to their daily events. This will also allow you to be the
first one to comment and even offer suggestions to problems in their
social life like peer pressure. Many children make bad choices
because of the advice they receive from their peers, this is partly
because they don’t have a chance to communicate with a more
responsible person during their day. Let family dinner be your first
step to having a more open relationship with your child
Lastly, family dinner can be a fun way to spend time with your
children. Everyone has to eat at some point in their day so why not
share that special time with your family and have fun while doing
it. Let your children take turns choosing a theme once a week. It
can be anything from “under the sea”, or “foods of the world”, to
having a “teddy bear picnic” or celebrating “seasonal foods”.
Children will enjoy the fact that their ideas are welcomed and
accepted and parents get to see the uniqueness and imagination in
their children. These ideas can help to make dinner time fun but can
also help encourage creativity in your children. So, let’s try to
bring back a tradition of our parents and grandparents with family
dinner. Your children are only young for a short time so you should
take this opportunity to create fun and positive memories that will
last them a lifetime.
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