Welcome
Welcome to New Foundations’ quarterly 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 care. We are developing web pages to display 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 216 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 welcomes Danielle Stocklin and Mia Williams to the
Case Management team in our Center City office. Danielle graduated
from Temple University and did an internship in Doylestown with
Bucks County Juvenile Probation. Danielle was also the Captain of
the Varsity Volleyball team while in school. Mia is a graduate of
West Chester University . Mia has worked as a teacher’s assistant
and tutor as well as working with children as a camp counselor.
Sabrina Bell has transferred from case management to her new position
as an Adoption Coordinator. Tenisha Williams has transferred from
case management to the Recruiter position in the Center City office.
We wish them success in their new positions.
Many of New Foundations’ staff took part in an annual retreat
which was held at Neshaminy Shore Picnic Park on August 4. The weather
was great and an enjoyable day was had by all.
New Foundations has begun recruiting for resource homes in the
Berks County area and hopes to open a small office in Reading during
this coming quarter.
Center City Office
Deatrice Fields and Charles Mensah continue to do an excellent
job supervising both units in the Center City office. There are
currently over 160 children placed in resource homes within these
two units. Both units are fully staffed with casemanagers, secretary
and a transporter who all work together effectively as a team. The
Center City team welcomes new casemanagers, Mia Williams and Danielle
Stocklin, with open arms as they begin their journey of working
with our children and their families. In addition, we are sad to
see Tenisha and Sabrina leave the unit and start their new positions
with New Foundations. Good luck to all. The center city team works
to achieve permanency by reuniting children with their biological
families as well as through adoption and permanent guardianship.
The Center City team also gives special thanks to all of the resource
parents who are assets to the team by providing nurture and love
to the children in need.
Congratulations to Ms Linda Miles, resource parent of the month
for May and Mr.and Mrs. Raymond Krok for the month of July. Each
resource parent was awarded a certificate of appreciation and a
gift card to Wal-Mart.
Congratulations to Amy, Kneisha, Asina and Jean on their graduation
from high school. Amy graduated with honors (3.8GPA) from Overbrook
High and will be attending Cheyney University with a major in Computer
Technology. Kneisha graduated from West Catholic and will be attending
Community College. Asina graduated from University City and will
attend Penn State University with a major in Biology. Jean graduated
from Bok High. Little Jaynia graduated from Easter Seals, and despite
her developmental delays, she is progressing at an acceptable pace.
Congratuations to all of our graduates. Congratulations also to
Amman, who was adopted by his aunt, Donna.
Several Center City staff continue to further their education
at the University of Phoenix: Tenisha Williams, in Business Administration;
Sayjelah Lundy, in Business; and Yvone Jones, in Criminal Justice
and Business Management. Nafeesah Reed will begin the graduate program
in Early Childhood Education this month at Temple University. Keep
up the good work! Congratulations and Happy Birthday from all to
Lois Loftin, who celebrated her day on August 27.
Chester Office
Office supervisor Sherron Samuels continues to do an excellent job
in the Chester office as she continues her studies at Wilmington
College.
Happy belated birthday wishes to Nicole Thompson, Naomi Muse and
Sherron Samuels. They all celebrated their special days over the
summer. Shayvonne has begun her maternity leave and is due any day
now, as is resource parent Lavinya Walker.
Many of our children enjoyed camp this past summer. Dymund, who
has just begun Kindergarten and her sisters, Crystal and Janice,
spent their summer at Day Camp. Melissa began camp at Starshooterz
in August and Takoya enjoyed a family reunion and barbecue in western
Pennsylvania over the holiday. Congratulations to Daquanna, who
has completed an academic program with the East Side Ministries.
Congratulations also to Kiera, as she begins her cosmetology course
this semester. Good luck to Ronnie as the football season begins
in Ridley Park and Bikeem, who continues to play basketball at Blessed
Katharine Drexel School in Chester. Best wishes to all our children
as they begin a new school year.
The Chester office extends condolences and sympathy to Tiera and
her family during this time of sadness following the death of her
beloved mother. Our prayers are with the family during their time
of grief.
Upcoming Foster Parent Trainings
Please check with your office regarding dates and topics
Recruitment
The recruitment unit welcomes Tenisha Williams to our team.
Tenisha transferred to recruitment in August and will be based in
the Center City office. Tenisha brings case management experience
to her new recruiter position as well as personal parenting experience.
Supervisor, Sandie Caulder and recruiters Shep Garner and Taren
Daniels along with the entire New Foundations’ staff wished
Kirsten Hontz a fond farewell on August 24. Kirsten will be moving
from the area to begin her life as a newlywed. Best wishes from
all, Kirsten.
In spite of personnel transitions, the recruitment team approved
sixteen resource homes this quarter. Welcome to all our new families.
In addition to providing pre-service training and performing home
studies, Shep and Kirsten assisted at the Annual Foster Parent and
Kinship Caregiver Conference at Temple University on June 3 and
all recruiters took part in a presentation on foster care and adoption
at the East Falls branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia on
June 14. Taren provided literature and information about foster
care to interested parents during registration in June for the Starshooterz
Summer Camp in Chester. The recruitment staff enjoyed a luncheon
together at Bertucci’s in Springfield in July, as appreciation
for a job well done by all this past year.
Services to Children in Their Own Homes (SCOH)
The New Foundations SCOH program continues working with our Philadelphia
area families. The SCOH casemanagers have been working hard over
the summer with some of the children who needed to attend summer
academic programs. SCOH has discharged six families in the last
quarter. The families continue to appreciate all of the hard work
and effort that the casemanagers put forth on their behalf.
Adoption
We are pleased to share that New Foundations adoption staff has
successfully finalized nine adoptions between June 1, 2006 and September
1, 2006. We would like to extend our congratulations and ongoing
support to the families who finalized their adoptions to date.
We are currently working on 12 Performance Based Contracting (PBC)
adoptions through the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.
Through our SWAN contract, we are currently working on 11 units
of service with Delaware County CYS and two units of service with
Somerset County CYS. Yvette Lassiter is the South East Regional
Technical Assistant for New Foundations, Inc. A site visit was held
on July 24, 2006 at the New Foundations Center City office.
Our Adoption Coordinators, Amy Morris and Jill Chiciak, attended
the SWAN Statewide Summer Meeting in Harrisburg from July 11-12.
While at the conference, they attended a workshop titled “Finding
Permanent Connections for Adolescents in Foster Care.” They
also attended a matching brunch to help match our waiting families
to children available for adoption.
Amy and Jill attended the monthly DHS forums and Delaware Valley
Adoption Council (DVAC) monthly meetings. The DHS forums focused
on developing the family profile and the requirements of Act 160.
The DVAC meeting in June was a training titled “Preparing
families to Adopt Children from Foster Care.”
We would like to extend our congratulations to Jill Chiciak, who
was presented with a Fellowship to George Washington University.
Jill's last day with New Foundations was July 19, 2006, and we wish
her luck and success at GWU. We are pleased to announce that Sabrina
Bell will be our new Adoption Coordinator effective August 1, 2006.
Please join us in welcoming her to our adoption unit. Amy continues
to attend graduate school at West Chester University and continues
to maintain a 4.0 average. Amy and her husband celebrated their
third wedding anniversary on June 27, 2006 and Amy celebrated her
29th birthday on August 31, 2006. If you, or anyone you are connected
with is interested in learning more about adopting a child, please
contact our adoption coordinator 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 22 families. Both Aftercare
case managers combined have successfully discharged 14 families
from the Aftercare Unit in the last quarter.
New Foundations Aftercare case managers report that Tiffany and
Christine have both had improvements in their final report cards,
they received all A’s and B’s. Talissa has successfully
completed middle school.
The Aftercare supervisor and case managers have demonstrated a
genuine commitment to empowering our children and families and have
provided excellent service during the last quarter.
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.
Resource Family
The new term for foster, kinship and adoptive parents: “Resource
Family”
Recently the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania along with the Statewide
Adoption Network, (SWAN), the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange, (PAE),
and the Department of Public Welfare, (DPW) have changed the title
of our families, who include foster parents, kinship parents and
adoptive parents. Our families are now called “resource families”.
A foster parent is defined as a person who provides nurturing
and parental care to a child who is not related through legal or
blood ties to them. Our foster parents work closely with the foster
child or children. They clothe them, feed them and engage in recreational
activities, like going to the park or to sporting events with them.
The parents also take the child or children to medical and dental
appointments and do the things they would do for their own children.
These children stay in their homes for a planned period of time
until they can go home to their families or another option is utilized
such as permanent legal custodianship, (PLC), or even adoption by
the foster family or another adoptive family.
A kinship parent is similar, however that person is of a blood
tie to the child or children. A kinship parent can be a grandparent,
aunt or uncle, cousin, sibling or even close friend of the family.
The key is that parent is related or close to the child and family.
These children are also generally with the family for a planned
period of time. Kinship parents also provide nurturing and guidance
to the children as foster parents do as well as doing fun things
with the children, like traveling and having picnics together. Kinship
parents are also responsible for making sure the children attend
dental and medical appointments.
An adoptive parent is one who voluntarily and legally takes a
child of other parents as his or her own child. In this case the
adoptive parent may start off as a foster or kinship parent, but
a child in their care may not be able to go back to his or her mother
or father and the child may become eligible for adoption. Other
adoptive parents may have family profiles completed so that they
can become a “waiting family”, so when a child is in
need of an adoptive home, they may be called upon to begin the adoption
process with that child. Usually a child must live in the home for
six months before the adoption process can be started with that
family. Visits may occur before that to determine if the home is
appropriate for the child and the child is appropriate for the family.
The adoptive family takes this child on as their own, legally. Again,
they feed and clothe the child as well as taking the child to medical
and dental appointments and do recreational activities with them
as a family. The difference with an adoptive family is that legally
that child is theirs, just as if the child was his or her own by
birth. The biological family has no legal ties to the child.
The responsibilities of foster, kinship and adoptive families
are very similar. They all provide a resource to the child. The
resource is one of love, nurturing and parenting to the child. Because
of this close tie in responsibilities and qualities between the
families, they have taken on the new name of “resource families”.
New Foundations would like to welcome all of our foster, kinship
and adoptive families under the new title, “resource families”. |
