We remove them from their homes with promises of a better life. We elude them with dreams of safety and a life free from the trauma and pain that often silences the voices of this population of children and teens living in foster care. Often, key players in the lives of foster care youth …
Tag: Youth development
Nov 02 2015
It’s Grief To Me – Death, Divorce, Incarceration, Deployment and Foster Care
When I graduated from high school, I never intended on going back. Then 13 years later, I found myself walking the halls of someone else’s high school thinking about that period of my own life that was so fraught with darkness. But this time my role was different. I was different. I was a mental …
Oct 19
Grief and Loss – Grieving Children in the U.S.
Each of us are impacted by grief and loss. For some, the words “grief” and “loss,” signify the pain one feels after they’ve lost a loved one to death. For others, the words “grief” and “loss” have a different meaning. November 19, 2015 is Children’s Grief Awareness Day. In an effort to help spread the …
Oct 05
Down Syndrome: A New Perspective
Eleven weeks ago I gave birth to my second daughter, Hope. As we began to adjust to life as a family of four, it became clear to me that each of our girls is unique. Not only are they unique from each other, they are unique from their father & me as well. Harper, my …
Aug 14
First Day of School Too Common a Phenomena for Youth in Foster Care
Anyone who has ever had to start a new school in the middle of the year probably remembers the barrage of feelings about the situation. Perhaps anger at having to leave the familiar school and all of your friends behind; the anxiety felt about whether or not you will be accepted by your new peers; …
Jul 31
The Everyday Fears of an Ordinary Woman
I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to live in fear of every person who comes to the door. The plumber, the electrician, the cable guy. The mailman, the FedEx driver who comes to drop off a package on the front steps. The new neighbor …
Jul 10
Turf Wars
You’ve probably heard about it. Then again, maybe not. Despite the fact that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has won three straight Olympic gold medals, and was runner-up in the 2011 World Cup, women’s soccer is still struggling to receive the attention and respect it deserves in both the mainstream U.S. sports media and …
Jul 05
Transgender Transitions
A loved and respected Methodist minister in North Carolina, a father of two boys, married to his second wife for over thirty years: This describes the person a small community in North Carolina knew – or thought they knew – when Duane Flynn made a life-saving decision to cease hiding his true self. Duane, now …
Jul 01
Focusing on the bigger picture to further girls education
“They take it for granted that if you work for an NGO you are funded by the west, that you are trying to change local traditions and customs, you are doing something that is secular. They no longer expect to get any public support, so no effort is being made to win hearts and minds. …
Jun 26
My Fight for the Preservation of the Cookie Jar
My mom and I have had an ongoing debate for oh… approximately twenty years or so. About what exactly, you might be asking yourself? Nutrition. Childhood nutrition, to be exact. Our debate mainly rests on the question – when it comes to childhood nutrition, is restriction really the best way to go? Let me set …