One year has passed since the relaunch of RESPOND, and in this time, we've achieved remarkable progress in our mission to provide culturally competent homes for Black children affected by the foster care system. What Is RESPOND? Founded in the 1990s by foster/adoptive parents Howard and Vickie Denson, RESPOND, a culturally competent approach to foster [...]
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When and why was ICWA established? The Indian Child Welfare Act was established in 1978 in response to a disparate number of Native children entering the foster care system. The common Termination Era ideology that Native children would be better off living with White families served as a catalyst for this mass displacement. At the [...]
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Xavier had been separated from so many people- first from his parents at age nine and then from his two brothers as they were moved from placement to placement. He had already lived in six different foster homes and attended three different schools. But even as a sixteen-year-old who desperately wanted permanency and family, he [...]
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Acknowledging the systemic racism that hurts our kids and families is just the first step; injustice also demands action. Last week Coalition staff took 4-hours, an intentional block of time, to steward Diversity and Inclusion either personally or collectively with an activity of their choice. In a time of pain, anger, confusion, grief, and thirst [...]
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This week, our staff asked, “The Coalition turned on a dime for COVID-19, why haven’t we done the same for racism?” George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery were murdered, and yet the Coalition was silent on the many ways systemic racism manifests in the lives of our staff and families. We did the same [...]
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In light of the most recent outcry for justice for the African American community, the Coalition recently shared with our foster and adoptive community this reflection on how to talk to your children about racism in these tragic times. Horrific events like the death of Mr. George Floyd force us to confront the ever-present racial [...]
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“All you need is love” and “skin color doesn’t make a difference.” We hear these comments all the time in conversations about transracial parenting. While people say these with the best intentions, they can become a barrier to engaging in deeper thinking, self-evaluation, and conversations around the complexities of transracial families. These conversations can have [...]
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