Resources

The following link is an important resources for birth, partnership, resource and adoptive parents. 

Rise Magazine

Rise Magazine educates parents nationwide about their rights and demonstrates the steps parents can take to reunite with their children and strengthen their parenting. 

If your children have been removed, this booklet, reprinted with permission from Rise Magazine will take you step by step through the process of reunifying with your children. Read the One Step at a Time Booklet.   

Advocate Jacqueline Israel offers tips and advice to parents preparing for visits with their children. Ms. Israel, whose children spent six years in foster care, is a parent advocate at Graham Windham. She helps parents at the agency understand their rights and get the help they need. Here she explains how to make the most of visits.

1. Bring Toys and Games
When you visit at the agency, the room just isn’t a home environment. I suggest that parents bring games, coloring books, activity books, crayons. Play some soft music, and bring books to read to your child. You can even bring your own visiting blanket so you and your children can sit down on the floor with Legos and blocks.

2. Make Visits a Time to Bond
During the visit, you definitely want to interact. Sometimes I see parents come and they look at the kid, sitting far apart. It’s not like visiting at a hospital. It’s a time to strengthen the bond you have with your child.

Some parents want to do homework with the children, and it’s a good thing to care about your child’s education, but if homework is troubling and causes tension in your family, I wouldn’t suggest doing that during a visit. When you’re getting frustrated, you’re not building your bond.

Don’t use your visits to complain about the situation, or dump your feelings on your child. That takes quality time away from your child.  

From  "A Time To Bond Making the most of your visits," reprinted with permission from Rise Magazine. Read the entire article.