Sept.29 – Strengthen Families Locally Weekly

Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families sent this bulletin at 09/29/2023 02:36 PM PDT

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strengthen families locally

In This Issue:

Updates From the Strengthen Families Locally (SFL) Team

sfl

Dear Strengthen Families Locally community,

For August through October of 2023, newsletters will be released every other week. Each edition will highlight a Strengthening Families Protective Factor that support families to stay strong and prevent child abuse and neglect. For more information, see the Protective Factors brief on our website, or visit the Center for the Study of Social Policy website.

This week we are going to focus on Nurturing and Attachment as a protective factor.

Nurturing and Attachment is a protective factor that is often tied into the five protective factors framework, although is sometimes pulled out as a sixth protective factor.

When parents and children have strong, warm feelings for one another, children develop trust that their parents will provide what they need to thrive, including love, acceptance, positive guidance, and protection.

SFL Resources

SFL Website

SFL Partner Onboarding Packet

Share a Story to Strengthen Families

Share Your Story Here

Community Planning Meetings

Email for meeting links.

Stevens and Ferry Counties
First Wednesday of each month
2-4 p.m.

Bremerton
Third Thursday of each month 
1-2:30 p.m.

Spokane
Third Monday of each month
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Port Angeles and Sequim
Fourth Thursday of each month
12:30-2:30 p.m.

Contact

Joy Lile, PhD
Strengthening Families Locally Coordinator
360-688-4956
joy.lile@dcyf.wa.gov

Strengthening Families WA
Family Support Programs Division

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Babies that have received affection and nurturing from a parental figure have improved outcomes later in life, including an increased ability to cope with stress.

This may look like finding and embracing what you have in common with your children, both the similarities and noticing and celebrating the differences. Recognizing that even from a very young age, children have their own unique personalities and ways of looking at things – and need understanding and respect. A way to support attachment is listening, really listening to your child, instead of just talking or giving advice. Or it could be knowing what makes your child laugh and enjoying time spent together.

Families can build bonds that will last generations. Creating that bond and acceptance of each other can help families weather storms that may come their way.

Think about it – Take time throughout the day to connect or check in. Find ways to engage your family even in the little things, like helping cook, dancing before bedtime or playing simple games like I Spy.

All the best,

Kyra

SFL Project News

OIAA is delighted to announce the inaugural version of DCYF’s Prevention Data Dashboard, designed to support the agency’s child maltreatment prevention efforts. You can view the data dashboard on our website: https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/practice/oiaa/reports/prevention-dashboard.

As part of the agency’s Strengthen Families Locally community-based prevention initiative, OIAA has provided the local communities with aggregate descriptive data they requested about characteristics and trends of children and families involved in the state’s child welfare system, to help inform their local prevention planning efforts. Here we’ve expanded the data to include all counties in the state.

The Prevention Data Dashboard contains annual data on age distribution, counts, rates, trends over time, and race/ethnicity for children entering out-of-home care. These dashboards also include descriptive data on children in Child Protective Services (CPS) intakes – rates of intakes screened-in for a CPS response, as well as the types of referents.

OIAA expects to update these dashboards annually. In addition, we will develop additional dashboards to support other related DCYF prevention efforts. Your questions, comments, and suggested improvements are appreciated and should be sent to oiaa@dcyf.wa.gov. Please share this dashboard with anyone (inside or outside the agency) you believe would like to explore these data.

If you missed our webinars on the SFL Dashboards you can view a recording here. Passcode @x1y3UyR.

Share a Story to Strengthen Families Locally!

Mother and child

 Empowerment

A client of mine's baby was born 4 weeks premature. For the first month mother struggled to get back and forth to Seattle Children's to see her first child. Mother struggled to bond with baby due to being so far away and COVID not allowing her to stay with her child during this time. Through engagement with a home visiting program she was able to learn new ways to bond with baby now that baby is home from the hospital.

 

Like this story? Share your own!

We hope to continue to build the story collection and make sense of the experience across Washington during the next year of Strengthen Families Locally. Please share a story today to center the lived experiences of families in Washington State:

code

http://ourtomorro.ws/WADCYF

Flyer   |   FAQ for collecting stories

Highlights From Around DCYF

September 30th is Orange Shirt Day

On September 30, Indigenous peoples and tribal nations across North America recognize Orange Shirt Day. Orange Shirt Day began in Canada in 2013 as a grassroots movement to bring awareness to the history and present impact of residential schools on Indigenous peoples. In 2021 it became a Canadian holiday. Between Canada and the United States, over 500 government and/or religious affiliated Indian boarding schools have been identified. Collectively, these boarding schools forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children from their families and communities well into 1960s. The intention of these schools was to strip indigenous peoples of Indigenous knowledge, spirituality, culture, and language. In 2021, United States Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, announced the establishment of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The initiative will result in an investigative report of boarding schools in the United States as well as attempts to reconcile.

Here are some resources for Orange Shirt Day:

What is Orange Shirt Day? | Articles | CBC Kids

Homepage - Orange Shirt Society (orangeshirtday.org)

Orange Path Reading resources

American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many NPR Morning Edition segment

 

Local Corner

Check here for opportunities specific to our SFL communities. Send more opportunities to Kyra.Ingraham@dcyf.wa.gov.

Other Community Resources

Connect (Events)

Save-the-Date Nov. 1 - 2, ICYF 2023 Conference: Save-the-date for the 4th annual Indigenous Children, Youth & Families (ICYF) Conference on Nov. 1-2, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year's theme is Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future: Healing through Native Traditions and Culture.

The two-day, virtual conference supports workers and the community with information about practice and policy. Caregivers, judicial personnel, social workers, and tribal workers are welcome to attend.

Register for this free, virtual event by visiting www.dcyf.wa.gov/ICYF-2023.  

The full conference program with a list of presenters will be shared in the coming weeks.

Hispanic Heritage Month: Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from Sept. 15-Oct. 15 in the United States each year. This tradition began in 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson first issued a proclamation to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week. Later, Congress passed a bill to extend the celebration to last an entire month, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, and National Hispanic Heritage Month has been celebrated every year since 1989. 

The dates for Hispanic Heritage Month were chosen to coincide with the Independence Day celebrations of many Latin American nations — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — that declared their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. 

For more reading, video and audio resources, events and exhibitions and educator resources:

VetoViolence: Join the CDC VetoViolence Facebook Live event with The Trevor Project in honor of LGBTQ+ History Month and National Bullying Prevention Month. Our amazing speakers include Kevin Vagi, PhD, in CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, Nicolas Suarez, MPH, in CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, and Ronita Nath, PhD, with The Trevor Project.

RSVP and submit your questions prior to the event on their Facebook event page to have them answered by experts.

This Facebook Live will be a real-time discussion around the following topics:

  • Awareness of bullying as a form of youth violence and recent data highlighting the impact of bullying among young people
  • Risk factors that increase bullying experiences in LGBTQ+ youth
  • Solutions available to help support LGBTQ+ youth experiencing bullying

Learn (Educational Resources)

Children’s Trust of South Carolina’s Learning Thursdays – Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences October 5, 10:00 AM EST – 11:30 AM EST Learning Thursdays raise awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and protective factors, including positive childhood experiences, that help to address ACEs. Register today!

Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States, published and created by Smithsonian Latino Museum, for middle Schoolers (13 to 15 years) and high school (16 to 18 years.)

Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers by Juliet Menéndez: Discover how 40 influential Latinas became the women we celebrate today! In this collection of short biographies from all over Latin America and across the United States, Juliet Menéndez explores the first small steps that set the Latinitas off on their journeys. With gorgeous, hand-painted illustrations, Menéndez shines a spotlight on the power of childhood dreams.

Innovate (News and New Insights)

Brave Conversations: Building Family Partnerships (BFP) was established in partnership with parents and caregivers in Washington, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), Casey Family Programs (CFP), the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, and the Youth Law Center/Quality Parenting Initiative. Through various statewide convenings, we sought insight into how true partnership and co-leadership can occur amongst parents, kinship caregivers, and foster caregivers on behalf of children and youth. The BFP work has centered around listening and valuing people who have experienced the child welfare system. This project has been co-designed with parents, caregivers, and youth, since its inception. Read the full report here. 

Our next Brave Conversation is Tuesday, Oct. 3 from 6 pm – 7:15 pm. Following conversations will be held on the first Tuesday of every-other month. There is no cost to participate in our Brave Conversations. Download the flier here. Register for the event here.

 

Grow (Funding and Resources)

WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grant Application Deadline is Extended to October 16th: The WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grant is a competitive reimbursement grant available to schools and childcare centers for the purchase and use of Washington-grown foods in child nutrition programs.

Who Can Apply:

  • Childcare centers who are active program operators of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP - childcare).
  • Organizations that oversee multiple Family Day Care Home (FDCH) providers are eligible to apply but FDCH providers may not apply individually. 
  • Tribal Early Learning Centers.

For more information, visit the WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grant webpage or contact Claire at (360) 974-9752 or farmtoschool@agr.wa.gov.

 

If you have suggestions for what to include in this newsletter, email Kyra Ingraham.