Thank you to the local businesses who sponsored this fundraiser. We are so grateful for your generosity!
Friday, May 31, 2019
Monday, May 27, 2019
GUEST POST: CHURCH & FOSTER CARE
James 1:27 tells us that pure and undefiled religion is
the care of orphans and widows in their distress, in other words God telling
us,” hey”, if you want to be really religious do this, take care of the
marginalized. Stand in the gap for someone that desperately needs you to
do that for them. In John 14:18 Jesus says that He will not leave us as
orphans, but will come to us. He goes on to explain that we will feel His love
because He and the Father will take us in, and we will experience His love and
presence personally. Who is the orphan, but the ones left alone and in
need of the enveloping love of Jesus? Those who open their hearts and homes in
Foster Care are active agents, manifesting the love of Jesus and practicing the
purest and most undefiled form of religion. While being a foster parent is a
calling, the care of the orphan extends far beyond that, there is a need for
support and encouragement for these families, as well as actively pouring into
and mentoring, grand parenting, etc. The church must demonstrate what family
is, as well as set the foundation for understanding what a blessing a church
family can be in one’s life. The church is an extended family that is called
upon to perform various functions. How can we better support, encourage and pour
into the children and families that are in the foster care system? It is the
calling of the church but possibly one that we have too much delegated outside
of the church. Challenge yourself today with how you might find a role, either
opening your home or supporting those who have, if the church doesn’t display
Jesus who will?
Be Blessed
Tri Robinson
Pastor, The Rock Church
Thursday, May 23, 2019
FACILITIES FOR YOUTH
The four organizations serving youth in Sheridan are NSI,
Wyoming Boys School, Wyoming Girls School, and Milestones. Below is information
about each one - directly from their websites.
Normative Services, Inc. (NSI), a Sequel Youth Services
program located just outside Sheridan, WY.
NSI offers an array of services for today’s at-risk, adjudicated, and
emotionally disturbed youth, while providing high quality academic, physical,
and vocational education in a safe and nurturing environment. NSI focuses on the therapeutic intervention
and redirection of negative behavior, while recognizing desired positive
behavior. Throughout a student’s stay,
he or she is challenged to analyze failures and experience success in nearly
every area of life.
The Wyoming Girls’ School is a therapeutic and
educational facility for the treatment of court-ordered delinquent girls ages
12-21 years.
Staff members provide gender-specific support services
focusing on mental health and substance abuse treatment, educational and life
skills development.
The program teaches youth to take personal accountability
for their actions and develop socially responsible values in preparation for a
successful transition back to their family and community.
Wyoming Boys' School (located in Worland)
The Wyoming Boys' School is a secure facility providing
adjudicated delinquent males ages 12-21 years with opportunities to make
changes in their lives. Staff members provide supportive services focusing on
psychological/emotional stability, educational and physical development,
and mental health therapies. Programs are specifically
designed for youth to learn socially responsible values and life skills,
restructure their critical thinking and prepare for a successful transition
back to their families and communities.
Milestones Youth Home is a 10-bed residential facility
for youth, ages 10-17, located on the VOA campus, in Sheridan, WY. Milestones
provides a structured environment that includes education, preparation and
advancement. A behavior management
system is in place whereby youth earn points, privileges and independence to
empower them to learn self-reliance for future success.
Milestones also serves as a runaway/homeless youth
shelter, which youth and families can access 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. Milestones staff will work with
youth and their families to help them transition successfully back into the
community. The staff is committed to caring for the youth and families through
healthy and meaningful relationships. Providing opportunities for individual
growth, recognition for achievement, support and advocacy. Safety and
protection of youth is the number one priority and staff works to recognize and
celebrate the strengths in each child. Where problems exist, staff work as a
team with youth and other community agencies to find a long-term solution.
Monday, May 20, 2019
TRUE STORY: ADOPTION
In the summer of 2016, our family started the process to become licensed foster parents in the state of Wyoming. We had done something similar in Nebraska and when we moved to Wyoming took a bit of a break to get settled. Once we were settled, we talked to our kids and as a family decided to move forward. The process for becoming foster parents required home visits, interviews, background checks, and classes. Once we were done with that process, it was time to wait for a call from DFS.
Our plan was to be foster parents. Jon and I both
come from a place of wanting to see families strengthened and reunification
happen. We had gotten to see this over and over while in Nebraska and
celebrated the times that relationships were healed, and youth could go back
home. We knew our girls’ parents very well, they spent holiday meals with
us, we talked to them regularly, and we wanted their families to succeed.
During the licensing process, one of the questions we
were asked was “who would fit best in your home?” The answer, for us, was
simple- teenage girls! During our time
in Nebraska, we grew to love our time spent with them and missed the dynamic
that having older girls brought. We knew that teenagers typically had a
more difficult time finding foster homes and we wanted to provide a place where
they were wanted.
On November 16, we received our report that said we were
licensed and while I was reading the report, I got a phone call from DFS. The
voice on the other end told me that there was a 7-year-old whose permanency
plan included adoption and asked us to consider that. This was a
shock. We had gone into foster care with
the idea that we would not adopt. The
other important part of the call was that we needed to call back in the morning
to give our answer. When my husband got
home from work, we did a lot of talking and even more praying and November 17
we called and said “yes”. That weekend we met our daughter and the
next weekend she started spending weekends with us. We did that for 3 weekends and then she moved
in for good on December 9, 2016.
The process of adopting our daughter included the
mandatory 6 months that we had to foster her as part of her permanency plan.
Through that process there were certainly ups and downs. It can feel a bit like trying to navigate a
new road while blindfolded. Thankfully, we were committed to our daughter
and despite some delays, we were able to celebrate her adoption on August 23,
2017. It hit me while we were planning our party that from the day, we learned
about her to the day we finalized her adoption, the process had taken 9 months.
The same amount of time that we had waited for our two older kids. Nine months.
It’s been three and a half years since we met our
daughter, almost three since her adoption was finalized. As time passes,
some things get easier; for example, we know each other better, she knows
holiday traditions, she has met most of the important people in our lives, she
is familiar with rules and expectations, and she has made big gains in school
and in therapy. She loves to tell people that she is adopted, and she
knows she is loved, and she is safe.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
THE LINK BETWEEN FOSTER CARE AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
What are some of the challenges that you think youth in
foster care face? Unstable home life, trouble keeping up in school, or aging
out of the system may be some thoughts that come to mind. Becoming involved in
the sex industry probably wasn’t even on your list. But the staggering truth is
that an estimated 60 percent of Human Trafficking victims have been in the
foster care system and most likely that number is higher. But why? Traffickers
prey on vulnerabilities, and youth in foster care have many vulnerabilities
because of the hardships of the system and their past home life.
People often have a picture of Human Trafficking in their
heads. It may look something like kids being abducted and taken across state
lines in the back of a white van. Though that scenario does happen, it often
can look much different. Traffickers are extremely skilled at spotting victims
who are missing something in their lives; validation, love, protection, money.
They can spend months of time building a false relationship with a victim and
slowly isolating them, preparing them to be trafficked, we refer to this as
grooming. It can happen in person, over the internet, or long distance. The
truth is that it could happen to anyone, but our foster youth are particularly
at risk.
So, what can you do? Consider attending a Rising Hope
parenting workshop to educate yourself more on the dangers of Human Trafficking
and how you can help keep your kids safe. Then consider enrolling your youth in
the Rising Hope #NotANumber course. Youth ages 12-18 will spend several
sessions discussing and participating in learning geared towards addressing
their own vulnerabilities, how to keep themselves safe, how to build a support
network, and what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like.
If you would like to learn more visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/risinghopesheridan or email us at RisingHopeSheridan@gmail.com.
Friday, May 17, 2019
THE GIRL WHO CHANGED MY HEART
For six years, our family lived at Boys Town. If you
aren’t familiar with Boys Town, here is a 10 second history lesson. While
ministering to the homeless on the streets of Omaha, Nebraska, Father Edward
Joseph Flanagan developed a lifelong interest in young people and their
struggle to grow into responsible, productive members of society. Over 100
years later, Boys Town is still a place where children and families are valued
and supported. Our role at Boys Town was that of Family Teachers. We had the privilege of living with almost 50
girls during our time there. While it is
true that each one brought something new to my life, there was one who changed
my perspective on foster care.
In the days leading up to Josie* moving into our home, we
had a meeting with our boss who told us “You need to read this file. She looks
like a pretty tough kid. I’m not sure she will make it here. She has run away from almost every other
placement and it looks like she is a pretty angry girl.” I don’t remember any of the details, but the
truth was, she did look rough. We had learned, however, that rarely does the
paperwork tell the whole story. What looks scary on paper could turn into
easy and what looked easy on paper could turn our house upside down.
The first thing that I realized when Josie moved in was how
bright she was. She was curious, she threw herself into her schoolwork,
she asked for help when she needed it, and she liked to have deep
conversations.
As usually happened, I heard stories about her years in
foster care. I heard the stories behind why she would run away. She shared stories of trying to get help from
caseworkers only to be told “you are not being abused”. She
described the feeling of being told that “foster kids are dirty” and how she
was made to sit at a separate table during meals and was only given tv dinners
while the family ate their meals at the dining room table and was told not to
ever walk on the carpet. She told me stories of Christmas when she was
given a package of men’s’ socks even though she knew that foster parents were
getting a stipend. Sadly, these stories, though heartbreaking weren’t
surprising. After having many girls who
had been in foster care, the stories weren’t new to me.
The day that my heart was changed was the day she was
talking to guests in our home and when she walked into the living room, she
said “This is my favorite room because it is the first time in over 6 years
that anyone has ever hung my picture on the wall. I finally feel like I
have people who don’t see me as disposable.”
Later, when the two of us were alone, I asked her about her comment and
she said “if someone had hung my picture up, I could’ve dealt with all the
other stuff and probably wouldn’t have run away.”
From that point on, I realized that it’s easy to get caught
up in worrying about feeling equipped to be a foster parent, worrying about
deadlines and paperwork, worrying about home visits and therapy appointments,
but at the heart of every one of us is the need to not feel disposable.
From that point on, one of the first things we did was hang up a picture
of the youth in our home because, if we got everything else wrong, at least
they would know that they weren’t disposable!
*name has been changed
Monday, May 13, 2019
SHERIDAN: HOPE PAGES
Hope Pages is part of Sheridan Foster Parent Exchange. The team works with the community to provide tangible household supplies. Services are utilized when a family is working towards reunifying after time in treatment, or even a teen aging out of foster care. The goal is to help fully furnish an apartment and make it a home.
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