July 2010

Vol 1, Issue 7

Family Finding

Family Finding

http://www.afamilyforeverychild.org (541-343-2856) 880 Beltline Rd. Springfield, OR 97477

Cindy Herzog has been volunteering with the Family Finding Program since the first volunteer trainings in August 2008. She has focused her energy on file mining, volunteer support and program planning. She attended the inspiring Kevin Campbell training in December and is very supportive of AFFEC's mission to produce loving, permanent homes for all children in Lane County (and beyond). She also has a dream that, someday, there will be no need for the foster care system, "It's a dream of neighbors supporting neighbors, friends supporting friends, and families supporting families so well that no children will need to become part of a foster care system."

Cindy has lived in Oregon since 1990 - a transplant from Upstate New York - and has worked with non-profits for over twenty years. She and her husband became certified as Foster Parents in 2000 and have had fourteen foster children share their home, including the two she has with her now. She also has a biological daughter, Athena, who turns five this month. Athena has provided her parents with excellent training in caring for high-need children, Cindy says with a smile. Athena has Selective Mutism and Separation Anxiety, both of which went undiagnosed until Athena was 3 ½, at which point the family received excellent support from an Early Intervention Specialist through EC Cares.

Athena is making excellent progress and, in spite of the challenge of having a special needs child, Cindy is grateful for all she learns from the challenge, she feels it has made her a better parent and foster parent. Cindy has been a stay-at-home mom for the last three years while her husband works part-time at the U of O as a software developer.

Currently, Cindy supports the Family Finding Program by volunteering weekly in the office with Paula Kenneth weekly. Cindy's ongoing goal is to "provide high quality support to the Family Finding volunteers so that, as volunteers, we have a fulfilling, meaningful, and productive experience." She is excited that Paula shares this vision for volunteer support and can already see how it is strengthening the program. Cindy has provided that necessary link between our dedicated volunteers and A Family For Every Child file activities. Cindy sees some new and wonderful additions being made to our Family Finding Program for our volunteers.

Cindy Herzog and her husband, Scott Morison, are also very involved in their community with other organizations such as:

Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides: (NCAP , Relief Nursery, Willamette Family, and Planned Parenthood.

If you want to talk with Cindy, you can reach her at:

cindyh@afamilyforeverychild.org

Cindy

Family Finding on Youtube? You Bet!

Is it a funny pet video?

Is it a talented singing toddler?

Is it a dumb basketball trick off the roof?

NO!

The National Family Finding Program Director Helen Lucas has put together a wonderful and informative video on the six steps to Family Finding as developed by Kevin Campbell and his Family Finding model. The model was originally designed to target children who have been in foster care for many years and who have lost contact with family members and other significant adults in their lives.

These are referred to as "Back End Cases". The Lane County Family Finding evaluation will randomly assign children who are just entering foster care and in the beginning stages of the court dependence process to receive family-finding services. These are referred to as "Study Cases". With the Study Cases, many of our volunteers ask why we are working on these types of cases when family connections are in place.

The answer is that no matter where a foster child or children are in the foster care process, we want to help maintain existing safe and loving connections, as well as potentially establishing new ones that might be out there. Please check out the Youtube link and hear more about our Family Finding process.

Click here: YouTube - AFFECHG's Channel

Family Finding Volunteers

AFFEC is planning on purchasing GenoPro software and are interested in having a couple of volunteers that would like to focus their volunteer time and efforts into learning and working with GenoPro. Beforehand, we would like to see if there are any potential volunteers that have some experience working with this software program and if so, if they would like to volunteer their specialized skills. Contact Paula Kenneth - Local Program Director for Family Finding paula@afamilyforeverychild.org

To learn more about this genealogy software program, go to www.genopro.com

Description: A genogram (pronounced: jen-uh-gram) is a graphic representation of a family tree that displays detailed data on relationships among individuals. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to analyze hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. Genograms allow a therapist and his patient to quickly identify and understand various patterns in the patient's family history which may have had an influence on the patient's current state of mind. The genogram maps out relationships and traits that may otherwise be missed on a pedigree chart.

Genograms were first developed and popularized in clinical settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through the publication of a book in 1985. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as medicine, psychology, social work, genealogy, genetic research, and education. There are many books and websites on the topic of genograms.　

Genograms contain a wealth of information on the families represented. First, they contain basic data found in family trees such as the name, gender, date of birth, and date of death of each individual. Additional data may include education, occupation, major life events, chronic illnesses, social behaviors, nature of family relationships, emotional relationships, and social relationships. Some genograms also include information on disorders running in the family such as alcoholism, depression, diseases, alliances, and living situations. Genograms can vary significantly because there is no limitation as to what type of data can be included.

Family Engagement Initiatives

State and local agencies throughout the country are at various stages of implementing and strengthening family engagement efforts. Following are selected examples of family engagement initiatives. The examples are presented for information purposes only; inclusion does not indicate an endorsement by Child Welfare Information Gateway or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau.

Goal: Oregon will safely reduce the number of children in foster care by 26 percent by 2010

Oregon has exceeded the initial goal of a 20% overall safe reduction of children in foster care from 2005. The state has a new goal of safely reducing the number of children in foster care by an additional 6% in 2010. Oregon also set several sub-goals towards safe reduction including:

· Increase placements of children with relatives by 50%

· Reduce the number of children entering care by 10%

· Increase foster care exits by 20%

· Reduce the unequal treatment for Native American and African American children in Oregon's foster care system

· Maintain or reduce current child abuse/neglect recurrence rate of 7.5%

Oregon has a unique partnership between Casey Family Programs, the Oregon Department of Human Services and the Oregon Commission on Children and Families to safely reduce foster care. Although goals are set statewide, eight counties have been selected to receive additional technical assistance and support to implement community based approaches to safely reducing foster care. The eight counties have developed action oriented work plans to address each of the five goals.

Many statewide activities are taking place simultaneously to support safe reduction in Oregon including:

· Implementation of a strategic plan for the Department of Human Services which prioritizes safely reducing the number of children in foster care.

· Integration of the Governor's Equity Task Force in the safe reduction efforts. The Task Force has met several times to address dis-proportionality and disparity for children of color in Oregon. The Task Force will provide recommendations to the Governor Kulongoski by October, 2010.

· Engagement of the nine confederated Tribes in Oregon in the plans to reduce the number of children in foster care.

· Involvement of communities at the local, county and statewide level. The state has engaged a professional communications consultant to help communicate the safe foster care reduction message to the public and stakeholders among the eight pilot counties initiating this work.

· Statewide Family Finding training featuring Kevin Campbell, a national expert in reconnecting families. More than 120 representatives from state, local and community partners attended training in 2009. Several county teams are developing local Family Finding/Reconnecting Family programs as a strategy of increasing relative foster care placements by 50%.

http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/children/relative/

Family Finding Search Tools

Below is a list of free and fee-based websites which can be used for family finding, as well as a list of non-Internet sources. Some sites are general search engines, such as Google; some specialize in people finding; others focus on a specific area or topic, such as obituaries or genealogies. For several sites, the initial search is free, but a fee is required for more detailed information; these sites are marked "free/paid."

FREE SITES

Criminal Records

Family Watchdog
National sex offender registry

Federal Bureau of Prisons
Can search for Federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present.

Megan's Law
California Department of Justice's web site, which lists designated registered sex offenders in California.

Superior Court of California, County of Monterey Public Access
This site allows you to view court calendars and search an index of defendants by name or birth date in Criminal, Civil, Traffic, Juvenile Traffic and Small Claims cases.

VINElink
VINELink is the online version of VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday), the National Victim Notification Network. VINE is a service through which victims of crime can use the telephone or Internet to search for information regarding their offender's custody status and register to receive telephone and email notification when their offender's custody status changes. If the inmate for whom you're searching is in custody at a corrections facility that participates in VINE, you should be able to locate custody information on VINELink. http://www.criminalsearches.com/

Public and Criminal Records- Background checks:

http://www.dirtsearch.org

Email

About.com: Top 9 Tips to Find Anybody's Email Address
In addition to the actual tips to look for email addresses, there are multiple links to other search sites, and a list of related About.com articles.

Genealogy

Access Genealogy
Search a wide variety of genealogical records

Indian Tribal Records
The Native American Rolls contain records related to treaties, trade, land claims, Native American removal to Oklahoma, allotments, military affairs, military service and pensions, trust funds, and other activities.

Latter Day Saints (LDS) Genealogy Search
Genealogical records from the Mormon Church

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records

Search for family ancestors. Billions of free family tree, family history, ancestry, genealogy, and census records

General Search Engines

Google
General search engine. Try searching on a person's name. Sometimes you can find a current address, genealogy or other interesting information on individuals online. If you Google an address, you can obtain a map and/or satellite view of the location. This site is a favorite of Stanislaus. For more in-depth searching, try Google Advanced Search.

Mamma.com
Another general search engine; good for preliminary information.

Obituaries

Obitsarchive.com (free/paid)
Newspaper obituary search. Searching through ObitsArchive.com's vast collection of obituaries and death notices is free and unlimited. Users then pay to view a specific item.

Obituaries.com
Links to obituary listing in the United States and Canada

People Finders

123people.com
People finder which searches "images, videos, phone numbers, email addresses, social networking and Wikipedia profiles and much more." Also does international searching.

Classmates.com
Searches high school yearbook/class information

Federal Parent Locator Service (for public use)
This website is sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families. Los Angeles County accesses this site through their District Attorney's office. The site includes information from the child support services system, and the social security death index.

iSearch (free/paid)
People finder with the option to search by screen name, in addition to name, email, and phone. Initial search is free; pay to view more detailed information supplied by Intelius.

Jigsaw (free/paid)
Provides professional contact information, including names, titles, email addresses. Obtain information by purchasing it or by submitted others' contact information.

Peoplefinder.com (free/paid)
This site is run by Intellius. Preliminary information is free; additional information costs (through Intellius)

Pipl.com
People finder using more robust technology to search the "deep web," a vast repository of underlying content, such as documents in online databases. According to Pipl.com, general-purpose web crawlers cannot reach the deep web. Its content is estimated at 500 times that of the surface web, yet has remained mostly untapped due to the limitations of traditional search engines.

Privateye.com (free/paid)
The free portion lists places that people have worked, towns they have lived in, and possible relatives. The paid portion lists people the search subject has lived with.

Spock.com (free/paid)
People finder. The free portion searches social networking sites and the Web. Includes links to other sites.

Wink
People finder for the US, Canada, and UK. Includes email search and search of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Also search for people by school, interests, career, photo, etc.

Zabasearch (free/paid)
Search by name or phone number. Initial search is free; fee-based (through Intelius) for additional information.

CVGadet (free)

http://www.cvgadget.com/

Public Records/Vital Statistics

blackbookonline.info (free/paid)
This site includes links to several other search engines for public records, including state, local, and federal information.

CA County Codes Chart
List of the 58 California counties

CA State Vital Records (free/paid)
Vital statistics for California: births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Crimetime.com (free/paid)
Geared for private investigators, this site includes links to public record searches and other information.

Marriage Records
Included records for several states, including Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas, and portions of California.

Rootsweb Death Records
Site also has links to several other genealogical/public records sites

Social Security Death Index

California Death Records

Kentucky Death Records

Maine Death Records

Texas Death Records

Note: The California records have more information than the Federal records, such as, birth state, mother's maiden name, father's name.

SearchSystems.net (free/paid)
Very large public record directory online. Provides links to over 35,958 searchable public record databases, many of which are free. A good site for finding municipal records and death certificates. SearchSystems also offers a premium service, which is charged on a per-search basis: $29.95/year or $9.95/month. Recommended by Kevin Campbell.

Social Security Death Index
This link gives an introduction and directions on how to use the site. Click here to bypass the instructions and go directly to the search page.

SSN Allocation Table
Shows the first three digits of assigned SSNs and the state or U.S. Possession in which the SSN was issued.

Social/Professional Networking

Facebook
Social networking site

LinkedIn
Professional networking site. Although it is free, you have to join to use the site.

MySpace
Social networking site

Spokeo
Social-networking aggregator; searches 43 major social networks. According to their website, "Spokeo is a friend finder/tracker that automatically brings you friends' updates across the Web."

Telephone Directories/Reverse Lookup

411.com
This site has both reverse phone and reverse address lookup. You can also search for neighbors.

Argali White & Yellow (free/paid)
Directory lookup that searches and aggregates results from several web-based phone and email address databases, along with several other directory searches. Requires software download. Free version allows ten searches per month; paid version allows unlimited searching and is $29.95 per user per year with quantity discounts.

Anywho.com (free/paid)
This is AT&T's online directory; advanced searches are done through Intellius. The site includes white pages and a people finder. Using the free portion, you can find towns and sometimes ages.

Area Codes
Look up area codes for all the states, cities, and other areas serviced under the North American Numbering Plan, including Canada.

MSN white pages
White pages search, including reverse phone and address lookups

Superpages.com
Site includes yellow pages, people finder (including reverse phone number), and business search using a map.

White Pages

Yellow Pages

Ultimate Yellow Pages

Yellow.com

Yellowpages.com

SUBSCRIPTION SITES

Accurint
A division of LexisNexis. Key features include:

People Search... locates neighbors, associates and possible relatives.

Phones Plus... track down phone numbers not typically available to increase your chances of finding your subject. Access over 268 million non-directory assistance records, including cell phone numbers.

People at Work... links more than 287 million individuals to businesses and includes information such as business addresses, phone numbers, and possible dates of employment.

Relavint™... visually links individuals with businesses, addresses, relatives and vehicles.

Advanced Person Search... helps find individuals when only old or fragmented data is available.

Ancestry.com
Contains immigration, military, census, birth, marriage, and death records; Jewish family history; African American family history

Offers 2 week free trial

Pricing for U.S. only/worldwide searches:

Annual membership: $12.95/24.95 month

Three months: $16.95/27.95 month

Monthly: $19.95/29.95 month

Entersect
Entersect Public Records (EPR) offers searches on a variety of public records with as little information as a name, social security number, or cell phone number.

Individual searches range from $1 to $21, plus a one-time application fee of $49

No monthly service fee or minimum usage fee

Global-Locate
Global-Locate, by Integrity, provides accurate address, phone and identification details on citizens of 207 nations. Powered by worldwide Government issued ID data, Global-Locate can help determine a current address, an active landline phone number, a cell phone number or an unpublished number, plus identity and age verification information such as date of birth, passport number or government-issued ID number, where available. Global-Locate was designed specifically for use by government, law enforcement and child welfare agencies to help locate individuals world-wide.

Monthly fee of $199/user for unlimited access; site pricing available.

Intelius
People search, as well as background and criminal check

Per-use fee for each report requested ($1.95 for a people search report)

24-hour pass for unlimited search is $19.95

Quantity discount pricing is available; contact Intelius for more information.

Merlin Information Services
A wide variety of searches available, including address, phone, social security number, court records, births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Cost per search ranges from 25 cents to $17.50, depending on the type of search

People Finder unlimited for one user - $999.00 annually

Obituaries
Contains archived obituaries from 87 different newspapers in California alone There are also archives available from all other states. If your local newspaper is not included here, check with them to see about adding a subscription to their online archives, if available. Search by name, publication date, or obituary text.

Single Article: $2.95

100 articles every 30 days: $19.95 (billed monthly)

The Work Number
The Work Number is an income and employment verification service used by social service workers nationwide to determine eligibility for TANF, food stamps, low-income housing, welfare-to-work programs, cash assistance, Medicaid and other benefits. It's also used by Title IV-D directors to find child support evaders in cases where court orders have been established. The fee for a pay date summary (SSN Search) is $3.00; the fee for an Income Verification is $6.50.

US Search
Provides a variety of search services on address, phone, social security number, email address, maiden name, criminal records, and court reports.

Cost per search ranges from $1.95 (simple name and address) to $295.00 (due diligence background check with criminal search)

OTHER SOURCES

Absent Parent Department

Assessors Office/assessors records

CalWIN

Child Support

County/State Resources
- CalWORKs Case File
- CWS/CMS, CWS Case File
- History in hard case file
- Statewide MEDS System
- County Automated Welfare System
- Statewide Child Support System

Coroner

County jails

County vital statistics

Department of Justice

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records (http://www.dmv.org/)

District Attorney's office

Eligibility Worker

Emergency contact information card from school

Family members

Family Services

Friends

Immigration Services/Consulates

Interviewing the child

MediCal Database
- Use this database to look up SSI information, death information,
　　social security numbers, and search for addresses

Medical records (death code)

Military agencies (Social and Family Services Departments)

Obituaries (funeral homes)

Parole and Probation

Postmaster

Red Cross

Registered voters

Tribes

White & yellow pages (work phone)

My Contact Information

Paula Kenneth

A Family For Every Child

880 Beltline Rd.

Springfield, OR 97477

(541) 343-2886

paula@afamilyforeverychild.org

Family Finding Training

Next Family Finding training: August 14th:9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a Family Finding volunteer, please let me know!

Family Connection Tracking Worksheet

The Family Finding Connection Tracking Worksheet is the form we all use at the "calling stage" of our process. When we are calling up the relatives, friends, community leaders, mentors that we have been provided by DHS and have found through our file mining and internet searches, we record those types of connections on this form. It is important to use this form for many reasons.

The first reason for having the Connection Tracking Worksheet available when calling is that your names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and relationships are listed. You always want to present yourself as an informed volunteer that is familiar with the case and the individuals potentially involved. It is equally important to have your tracking worksheet available when calling or e-mailing individuals because you need to record each and every connection (multiple) that you have made with those individuals. We want to ensure that all attempts have been made to connect our case child or sibling group with potential loving and caring people/groups.

You can drop it off at the AFFEC office, send it mail, or contact Paula Kenneth. Please remember that all our forms and processes are time sensitive so try to get your connections done within 3 weeks following the "File Mining" and "Internet Searches".

If you need assistance with this part of the process, feel free to contact us and let us know. Our goal is to have one volunteer commit to a case from beginning to the Follow-Up stage.

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER: The Family Finding Connection Tracking Worksheet becomes a permanent part of the case record here at AFFEC and with Oregon Department of Human Services. Make sure it is legible, follows somewhat of a pattern on your notes, etc. Don't hesitate to record if the call or connection was not the nicest, but refrain from writing down derogatory statements on your part as a professional. When you submit your Family Finding Connection Tracking Worksheet, please provide us with your availability for a "Family Meeting Staffing" within the next 2-3 weeks.

Family Finding Contact Form

The Family Finding Contact Form is the form we all use at the "file mining stage" of our process. When we are at the DHS office, we use this form as a tool for valuable information.This is a helpful since we are not able to copy or take any case documents from the DHS Case File.

Because it takes a significant amount of time to review a case file, remember not to get too caught up in the some of the details that do not pertain to people, relatives, or connections. We are usually permitted 1 ½ to 2 hours to review the case file during the file mining stage. You want to make sure that your notes, names, telephone numbers, e-mail address and dates are accurate as this is your base for investigating and locating all the family connections you can find for the case child or children.

Once you have completed your Family Finding Contact Form from the file mining with DHS, you then forward a copy of this form to Paula Kenneth, the Local Program Director of Family Finding. Make sure to keep a copy for yourself for the "Internet Search" and "Calling" stages of your case.

You can drop it off at the AFFEC office, send it mail, or contact Paula Kenneth.

Please remember that all our forms and processes are time sensitive so try to get your Contact Form done within 1 1/2 weeks following the case assignment to you.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

You agreed to keep confidential any information regarding Department of Human Services clients, their family members or associates, and will not divulge any information from a client's file, grievance or any other confidential source to any outside person or agency during or after your volunteer service period unless authorized to do so through the Executive Director of A Family For Every Child; Christy Obie-Barrett. You agreed to act in a responsible and professional manner when providing services or participating in the Family Finding Program or in locations outside of our business office. You agreed to adhere to the policies governing ethics and conduct of the State of Oregon - Department of Human Services.

Family Meeting Staffing

A Family Meeting Staffing is the next step following the volunteer turning in their contacts form and Connection Tracking Worksheet. There will be the DHS Case Worker, DHS Family Finding Coordinator (Amanda Monet), the volunteer(s) who worked on this case and myself (Paula). We review all the information supplied from the volunteer and share additional information across the board on relative/family/friend updates as well as where and at what stage the foster child is in. We also discuss who should be invited to the Family Meeting which is usually scheduled 2-3 weeks after. We schedule the date and time we will be holding the Family Meeting @ the AFFEC office.

The Family Meetings can last anywhere from an hour to 1 1/2 hours and is facilitated by Amanda Monet (DHS Family Finding Coordinator). If we have any questions during the Family Meeting, this is a great time to ask those questions as they pertain to the family connections and plans.

The Family Meeting

A Family Meeting is the next step following a Family Meeting Staffing. The Family Meetingdate was determined and agreed upon at the Family Meeting Staffing. The Family Meeting is usually scheduled about 2 weeks in advance. It was also determined at the Family Meeting Staffing who would be invited to attend the Family Meeting.

The volunteer that has been working the particular case will be responsible for contacting all the agreed upon attendees and explain what is involved with a Family Meeting and why. If family members or connections are not able to attend in person, we invite them to participate via telephone conferencing.

The telephone number to offer remote attendees is: (218) 844-8230 and tell them to enter access code 693085 followed by the # sign. When they call in, they just need to introduce themselves. There may be times that they are the first person to call in, but just ask them to wait until they hear other participants join in. The Family Finding volunteer will take notes of who is in attendance (by telephone and in-person) and record who is promising what, when and where.

Amanda Monet (DHS Family Finding Coordinator) will facilitate the Family Meetings. She will first introduce everyone around the table and then direct the meeting. The meeting usually starts with where the case child is currently located or where they are in the foster care system and with whom. It's just an abbreviated summary of the case as it exists currently. Then each participant is asked to add in or ask pertinent questions as they pertain to the case and the family connection.

Amanda Monet will then ask for commitments from the Family Meeting participants to supply visitations, family photos, family trees, periodic e-mails, skyping connections, etc. The goal is to gather loving, long-term connections from the people that truly care and want to be involved with the case child or children. The thing to remember is that at this moment, everyone's intentions are honorable and honest, but we are looking for "long-term" commitments.

Once it is determined who will do what, when and where, there is an opportunity for participants to ask any additional questions. Once the volunteer has recorded all the notes, it is suggested that they turn those notes in within 5 business days from the date of the Family Meeting.

After the meeting, please feel free to chat with the group and introduce yourself as you were the contact point during our research and connection process.

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me paula@afamilyforeverychild.org (541) 343-2856 or Kathy Gillespie(our follow-up coordinator) @ kath.gillespie@gmail.com or (541) 206-0464.

Sample Introduction

Sample Notice Telephone Introduction or letter

A FAMILY FOR EVERY CHILD
Family Finding Program
880 Beltline Road - Springfield, OR 97477
(541) 343-2856 or fax (541) 343-2866
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=lp5kszdab.0.u69i67bab.hq4lu8bab.6525&ts=S0511&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.afamilyforeverychild.org%2F

(Date)

Dear (Relative),

I am contacting you because you have been identified as a relative of (child's name) who was born on (DOB). I am a Family Finding Volunteer for A Family For Every Child. We are not a governmental agency or an investigative agency. We are a non-profit organization that focuses on establishing safe and loving family and mentor connections for child in the Foster Care system throughout Lane County.

We recognize that relatives play an important role in the lives of children, especially those who must be temporarily cared for by someone other than their parents. Children do better when they are placed with or able to stay connected in other ways to people who know and care about them. Children who are able to stay connected to their extended family and culture experience more stability and less traumatized than those who are not connected.

We are contacting you to see if you are interested in being and/or remaining connected to (child's first name) while s/he is in our custody. In the next few days, I or someone from our organization will call you to review your options for connecting with (child's first name) and eventually attending a Family Meeting. For example, you may want to put together family pictures or a photo album for (child's first name) or perhaps send cards and letters to (child's first name so that there is some consistent communications between you and (child's first name). If you prefer to e-mail back and forth with (Child's first name), may I get your e-mail address? We are looking for any type of positive, healthy and safe connection possible for (child's first name) If you know of other family members that wish to participate, I can take their names, e-mail addresses or phone numbers and contact them as well. If you prefer to let other family members know about us and our services yourself, please feel free to give them my name and phone number to contact me if they wish or they can e-mail their contact information to paula@afamilyforeverychild.org and let them know to title the e-mail with the child's first name.

We also encourage visits, events and any other long term connections as long as there is no safety concerns. There are many other ways for you to stay involved in (his/her) life and offer important family connections. You might visit regularly, arrange regular weekend or holiday visits at your home, or offer to transport (child's first name) to and from school, doctor's visits or other activities. Keeping (child's first name) connected to family [and their tribe] is important. Please get in contact with us so you don't lose the opportunity to connect with (child's first name) now or in the future. More information about your wish to connect or others' wish to connect is appreciated.

We will call you in the next couple of weeks to explore your options, but feel free to contact me sooner at ________. I also ask that you share with me names and contact information of other relatives you think may be interested in connecting with (child's first name).
Thank you.

Sincerely,

Benefits of Family Engagement

More and more evidence suggests that family engagement has many benefits, including:

Enhancing the helping relationship. A family's belief that all its members are respected and that their feelings and concerns are heard strengthens their relationship with their case worker. This positive relationship, in turn, can increase the chances for successful intervention.

Promoting family "buy-in."

When families are part of the decision-making process and have a say in developing plans that affect them and their children, they are more likely to be invested in the plans and more likely to commit to achieving objectives and complying with treatment that meets their individual needs.

A qualitative analysis of findings from the three top-performing metro sites in the 2007-2008

Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) found that child and family involvement in case planning was correlated with (1) active engagement of non-custodial and incarcerated parents, (2) families communicating their own problem-solving strategies and exploring new strategies that may benefit themselves and their children.

Enhancing the fit between family needs and services:

Working collaboratively, case workers and families are better able to identify a family's unique needs and develop relevant and culturally appropriate service plans that address underlying needs, build on family strengths, and draw from community support. A better fit in services often leads to a more effective use of limited resources (Doolan, 2005).

Families:

Can be achieved by involving them in case planning and checking in with them during visits about their understanding of and progress toward the plan. Involvement of the family in case planning is correlated with greater engagement of non-custodial and incarcerated parents, family-centered/strength-based approaches, and stronger connections between workers and families.

Family search and engagement:

Encourages broad-based participation in family decision-making to leverage kinship connections and increase placement/permanency options.

Mediation:

Adopted by many agencies and courts allows agency representatives and families to work with a neutral facilitator to arrive at a mutually acceptable plan.

Family Finding Success Stories

Kathy Gillespie is our Family Finding Follow-Up Coordinator. Kathy's process is to go back to re-visit our Family Finding Cases at the 3, 6 and 12-month mark following the case Family Meeting. Kathy diligently attempts to contact every person that participated in the Family Meeting and made a commitment to connect with the child or sibling group in the case.

Aside from checking in with all the case connections, Kathy gets to hear first-hand how the connections are working or not working out, how the connection is making a difference in the child's life, how the connection groups have grown, etc. Due to confidentiality, we won't list any case specifics, but would love to share with you some of the wonderfully positive results of what all of our Family Finding Volunteers bring to people's lives. For each individual case, we will e-mail the volunteers that worked on the case the follow-up specifics and results.

We had a "Back End" case referred to us in November of 2009, for a 10-year-old boy who experienced physical punishment on a daily basis, viewed sibling abuse and neglect, drug addiction, no designated sleeping area or linens, no hygiene, left with strangers for days at a time, prolonged illnesses due to lack of care, sexual abuse by parent's acquaintances, etc. This little boy was part of our Heart Gallery Program, Web Adoption Recruitment, Oregon Adoption Recruitment, and Family Finding and Mentor Program.

This little guy was just permanently adopted July 2010. Kathy Gillespie checked in with connections at the 3 month stage following the Family Meeting and found that the Maternal Grandfather, mother, stepfather, and former foster parents had a nice visit with the boy before he had left for his "forever" home. We will continue to make sure that these connections are still in place down the road.

We received a "Study Case" in December of 2009 for a sweet little 11-year-old girl who was born drug affected and was almost impossible to comfort. At the age of eleven, she was just learning how to sit up and pull herself up on furniture. This little angel is so sweet and so responsive to people around but doesn't have the ability to speak, just simply babble. We held our Family Meeting on this case 9/30/09 and since then found out that the paternal grandfather has gone through adoption classes and looking to bring this little girl back into the family. The adoption process is still in motion. The Paternal Great-Aunt is still in the process of putting a family album together for our little girl. Letters and pictures from other family members are being forwarded to the case worker.

Last September of 2009, we received a "Back End" case with a 13-year-old boy that was developmentally at an 8-year-old level due to Asperger's. When referred to us, he was living in a therapeutic Foster Home because he and his two siblings had been both extremely physically and sexually abused by their foster parents. This little guy loved his legos, camping, boy scouts, nature, video games, his "special" fishing pole and the only complaint he really ever had was that he lost his legos with all the moves in and out of Foster Care homes. He would talk on and on about this.

His casework was ready to put in a request for funds to replace these items, when she happened to be in the DHS storeroom getting something and looked over and saw box after box with the child's name on them. When she peeked inside... she found LEGOS! With this rather unique case, we were able to find seven family connections and held three family meetings.

Our little guy sees his paternal aunt and uncle on a regular basis. He sees his paternal grandmother when his foster parents are at work. He does chores for his aunt on a regular basis and saw his uncle just this past 4^th of July at a family gathering.

Family Finding Volunteer Social Gathering

Family Finding Volunteers are holding their first annual Family Finding Volunteer Social Gathering:

WHEN: Thursday, August 19, 2010 4:00 - 6:30

WHERE:

The Oregon Electric Station located at 27 East 5^th Avenue in Eugene, Oregon.

DIRECTIONS:

1 block north of the Performing Arts Center & Hilton Hotel (see map below)

AFFEC wishes to acknowledge all the hard work and dedication committed to the Family Finding Program by their volunteers.

Without our volunteers, there would be no

Family Finding Program. The majority of our volunteers work out of their homes and never have the opportunity to meet all the other wonderful volunteers that bring our program and its services to the forefront in foster care. We are all part of an incredible team that never had the pleasure of meeting - so now is the time! Please plan on joining us.

RSVP: no later than Monday 8/16/10

Paula Kenneth - Family Finding Local Program Director:

paula@afamilyforeverychild.org (541) 343-2856 or

Cindy Herzog - Family Finding Volunteer Coordinator:

cindyh@efn.org

How can you contact A Family For Every Child?
Call, email, or visit us online or in person!

contactus 880 Beltline Rd.
Springfield Oregon 97477

office - 541-343-2856
toll free - 877-343-2856
fax - 541-343-2866

Executive Director--Christy Obie-Barrett
info@afamilyforeverychild.org

A Family For Every Child | 880 Beltline Rd. | Springfield | OR | 97477