The Blog

Program Expands Its Reach to Northern California

A former foster youth who made her way through the foster care system is reaching back to youth in Massachusetts and now California, making sure others tread an easier path.

Kimberly Snodgrass founded REACH (Realizing Every Action Creates Hope), a non-profit dedicated to providing life skills to local foster youth.  Job skills, financial budgeting, SAT tutoring, heath tips—these are some of the skills youth learn during the program.

“We want to reach out to more youth to the state that has the most foster youth,” said Snodgrass.

The program started in Boston when Snodgrass was a graduate student at Harvard … Read more

AP Runs With Foster Care and Education Narrative

When I started covering foster care in 2006, my focus quickly fell to what happens to youth as they age out of the system. The reason was two-fold: 1) I was mentoring two 16-year old boys who would age out soon enough themselves; and 2) it was what the news media covered when it covered foster care.

There are a number of reasons why the news media had picked up on this story. The Midwest Study was clearly illustrating — in its first, second and third waves — the pitfalls of not adequately preparing foster youth for … Read more

Center for Child and Youth Policy at UC Berkeley to Host Emancipation Discussion

The Center for Child and Youth Policy at UC Berkeley will host a discussion today on policy and practice strategies to improve outcomes for youth aging out of foster care. Dr. Wendy Smith of USC will be presenting her latest book titled “Youth Leaving Foster Care: A Developmental, Relationship-Based Approach to Practice.” Look below for more information on the event, and to attend contact the Center at (510) 643-7016.

-Ryann Blackshere

Fostering Media Connections (FMC) is a project of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI). FMC harnesses the power of journalism and media to drive public and political will … Read more

Author of “Language of Flowers” to visit Treehouse

In September FMC published an article in the Huffington Post about the novel “The Language of Flowers” and how its main character has many similar experiences to a young girl and other youth who live at Treehouse Communities, an intergenerational community for kinship and adoptive families in Massachusetts.  On November 7th, the two will meet up again.  Author Vanessa Diffenbaugh will visit Treehouse to speak about her book and kick off National Adoption Month.  Check out the press release below for more information about the event:

An Evening With Vanessa Diffenbaugh

To celebrate National Adoption Month, the Treehouse… Read more