Financial Eligibility Criteria To Be A Foster Or Adoptive Parent
All states require prospective foster and adoptive parents to have sufficient income to meet their own needs and ensure the security and stability of the household independent of foster care maintenance or adoption subsidy payments. While caregivers are reimbursed for a child's basic needs, this money should not be thought of as a way to make extra income.
Financial stability is not an end in itself, and income sufficiency is never the sole determinant of healthy family functioning. Indeed, many foster parents pay out-of-pocket for the needs of their foster children simply because the per diem rate is inadequate. Still, “for all practical purposes, lack of specificity renders a ‘sufficient income’ provision unenforceable, and invites questionable applicants to be foster and adoptive parents, motivated for the wrong reasons,” says Massachusetts attorney Karen K. Greenberg. While applicants do not need to be prosperous, the home approval process should require an objective in-depth evaluation of an applicant’s total financial history and prospects.
Parenting a Child Who Has Experienced Abuse or Neglect
Children who have been abused or neglected need safe and nurturing relationships that address the effects of child maltreatment. If you are parenting a child who has been abused or neglected, you might have questions about your child’s experiences and the effects of those experiences. This factsheet is intended to help parents (birth, foster, and adoptive) and other caregivers better understand the challenges of caring for a child who has experienced maltreatment and learn about the resources available for support. (In some cases, the term “birth” parent is used to distinguish parents with children involved with child welfare from kin or foster or adoptive parents.)
Parenting a Child Who Has Experienced Trauma
Children who have experienced traumatic events need to feel safe and loved. All parents want to provide this kind of nurturing home for their children. However, when parents do not have an understanding of the effects of trauma, they may misinterpret their child’s behavior and end up feeling frustrated or resentful. Their attempts to address troubling behavior may be ineffective or, in some cases, even harmful.
This factsheet discusses the nature of trauma, its effects on children and youth, and ways to help your child. By increasing your understanding of trauma, you can help support your child’s healing, your relationship with him or her, and your family as a whole.
Parenting a Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused: A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents
You may be a current or prospective foster or adoptive parent of a child with a known or suspected history of child sexual abuse. In some cases, you may not be certain that abuse has occurred, but you may have suspicions based on information you received or because of the child’s behavior. You may feel confused, concerned, and unsure of the impact of prior child maltreatment, including sexual abuse.
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Colloquium
The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, the nation’s premier interdisciplinary child abuse organization, has announced its 2015 Colloquium to be held in Boston July 22-25.
The APSAC Colloquium offers learning and professional development opportunities for professionals who serve children and families affected by child maltreatment and violence. The institutes and workshops offered throughout the Colloquium address all aspects of child maltreatment including prevention, assessment, intervention and treatment with victims, perpetrators, and families affected by physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and neglect.
Videotaping Child Sexual Abuse Investigation Interviews
This article investigates the extent to which departments of human services should be mandated by statute to videotape child sexual abuse investigative interviews. While numerous states instruct that videotaping may be done, most do so only by regulation or administrative directive.