TPR Hearing

This week I have had the privilege of sitting at a TPR hearing in Children's Court.  I often wondered what goes on in Children's Court that makes it different from a regular court setting.  It has been years since I have stepped inside any court room, so I was nervous.  I sat there, hearing the case and observing the room.  I couldn't imagine the participants in the case and what they were feeling.  A TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) hearing is a very serious matter.  It made me wonder, the decisions made in these rooms affect not just those in the case, but could potentially affect many other cases after them.

I know we will soon have a hearing in Children's Court for our foster child.  With my foster parent training and this experience, I can go in there with more confidence in the judicial system.  They don't see each case as just another file to look at because it is work, they see that a child or children are affected, but their families and extended families, and every one whose lives those children impact.  They make every reasonable effort to keep families together when possible and find adoptive resources when reunification is not possible.

This made me wonder what more I could learn in case I would like to become a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate).  A CASA may help many children in the foster care system feel heard.  Have you considered becoming a CASA?

The Summit

I apologize for the lack of posting on this blog over the last week.  I was attending an Orphan Care Summit in Kentucky to learn more about ways we can take care of the "fatherless", "broken-hearted" children around the world and in our backyards.

Here are a few things I walked away with:

• Be people connected to the Source, a gospel-fueled love for the orphans.  He pursued us when we were orphans of sin.
• God cares about how we respond to the plight of the orphans.  We are to be the body of Christ and step in, get off of the bleachers and on to the field.
• How can local churches make a difference?
• Recruitment for foster/adoptive families
• Support foster/adoptive families
• Mentoring and Tutoring programs
• Prayer vigils
• Kinship family support
• Respite care providers

I loved this closing statement on the final night.  "Not where is God?  Where are God's people?"  So how can you make a difference in the life of just one child?

Books we found @ library sale!

Since our placement is of another race than ours, we are making it a point to have books to raise self-image to be a positive thing.

Here are the 3 books we got at library sale for a total of $1.25!

You Be Me, I'll Be You by Pili Mandelbaum

What Kind of Family Do You Have? by Gretchen Super

Skin Again by Bell Hooks

Do you have any books you recommend?

DYK?

Did you know?

• Over 5,100 foster homes across the state care for almost 8,000 foster children each year in the state of Wisconsin?1  At any given time, 2,200 children are in foster care in Milwaukee County.2
• There are 8,109 children in foster care in Wisconsin; 1,280 of these children are waiting for adoptive families.3
• The average length of time to get a foster license is 90 days.

So what is keeping you from becoming a foster parent or adopting from foster care?

1 - http://dcf.wi.gov/children/foster/
2 - http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/43273/router.asp
3 - http://www.adoptuskids.org/resourcecenter/rrtpackets/wisconsin.aspx

Week of 5/1-5/7 Events

Here are some foster care related events happening during the week of May 1 - May 7:

Friday, May 6 - Foster Care Prayer Vigil @ Family Chapel in Pewaukee, 6 PM

Saturday, May 7 - Home Run & Walk 5K/3K for Foster Care @ Miller Park in Milwaukee, 7 AM


If you have an event you would like posted, contact me.

National Foster Care Month

Some resources for National Foster Care Month:

FosterCareMonth.org

FosterParentsRock.org

Where to start...

So you are wondering if foster care parenting is for you.  Well you can start by looking at information based on the county you live in.  Click on this link and then the county you live in for contact information to get you started.

Waiting Children in WI

I thought I would share links of children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the state of WI.  If you have any questions on these children, please make the appropriate connection through the contacts listed on those websites.

Adoption Resources of Wisconsin

Heart Gallery of Wisconsin

AdoptUsKids.org