ACET, Inc. Blog

National Foster Care Month is a time to acknowledge the 463,000 American children and youth in foster care and the family members, foster parents, volunteers, mentors, child welfare professionals, and policymakers who help them find permanent homes and connections. This year, the Children’s Bureau and Child Welfare Information Gateway are supporting National Foster Care Month through a special website for child welfare professionals with the theme, “Partnering with Families and Youth to Achieve Permanency.”  The website features information and resources that help caseworkers, administrators, managers, and policymakers improve permanency services and outcomes for children, youth, and families involved with the child welfare system. You can access the website here: http://www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth/

The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections has also prepared fact sheets about foster care. For each state, the following information is available:

• Number of children in foster care;
• Average age and number of children in care by age range;
• Gender;
• Race/ethnicity of children in out-of-home care and of the general population in the state;
• Average length of stay in care;
• Percentage of children reunified with parents or primary caretakers;
• Number of licensed foster homes;
• Percent of youth living with relatives;
• Percent of children adopted by foster parents and by relatives; and
• Contact information to find out how to become a foster parent in that state.

Information on foster care in Minnesota can be found at: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/state/Minnesota.pdf

Heather

In this week’s funding alert from The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and National Sexual Violence Resource Center (http://new.vawnet.org/category/index_pages.php?category_id=5#417), several educational scholarship opportunities were announced; adult women who are facing challenges such as divorce, death of a spouse, disabilities, domestic violence, and/or job loss; or workers in the field of domestic violence. The scholarships range from $1,000 to $3,000 and can be used to pay education- and employment-related expenses such as tuition and fees, certifications, books and supplies, child care, transportation, uniforms, and supplies.

Information about these opportunities can be found here:

Allstate Education and Job Training Assistance Fund, http://www.nnedv.org/projects/allstatefoundtion/ejtf.html

Jeannette Rankin Women’s Scholarship Fund, http://www.rankinfoundation.org/
(Applications for a 2011 Rankin Scholarship will be available on November 1, 2010.)

Women’s Independence Scholarship Program, http://www.wispinc.org/Programs/WISP/tabid/62/Default.aspx

Counselor, Advocate, and Support Staff Scholarship, http://www.wispinc.org/Programs/CASS/tabid/63/Default.aspx

Heather

Over the winter I read the blog-turned-into-a-novel Julie and Julia, and, since the launch of the ACET blog, I’ve been very interested in the wide variety of blogs that are available on the internet. I currently subscribe to quite a few, including Mrs. Q’s “School Lunch Project,” the Wiktionary “Word of the Day,” and my own guilty pleasure, “Babes Love Baseball.”

I have also discovered that many of our lawmakers have embraced blogging as a way to keep their constituents informed. I was able to find a blog that summarizes the recent activities of Minnesota’s House and blogs for my representatives to Minnesota’s House and Senate. My congressional representative also has a blog, but Senators Franken and Klobuchar don’t (you can subscribe to their email newsletters though).

If you want to subscribe to a blog, look for and click on this image: 
Here are some links if you are interested in learning more:

Daily summary of Minnesota’s House (look for the “Session Daily RSS” button on the right): http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/sdaily.asp

Who Represents You? allows you to find your lawmakers based on your address. Click on the “Member Page” to be redirected to their webpage and sign up for the blog (RSS): http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/districtfinder.asp

Senator Franken’s website: http://franken.senate.gov/

Senator Klobuchar’s website: http://klobuchar.senate.gov/

White House blog: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog

What blogs do you regularly read?

Kirsten

The Animal Humane Society’s annual Walk for Animals took place this past weekend on Saturday, May 1^st. The walk raised funds to help animals in need (e.g. finding homes for homeless dog and cats and/or rescuing animals from abusive/neglectful situations). The 5-mile walk took place in Golden Valley with over 10,000 people who raised approximately one million dollars to help animals in need. We would like to extend a special word of thanks to all supporters and contributors.

Several ACET staff participated in the walk this year, and we managed to finish 5^th among corporate teams in fundraising. The walk itself went smoothly and all humans and paws completed all five miles. We brought along our four-legged companions on the walk: Heather and her husband brought Bocephus, her 85-lb. chocolate lab, and Julep, a lab mix foster dog from Secondhand Hounds (www.secondhandhound.org). Joseph followed Zelda, his medium-sized mixed breed (some mix of fluffy, cold-weather dogs). Kirsten and her husband Zack decided to leave their cats at home. Highlights included Bocephus attempting to “bathe” himself in the watering stations, Julep being a bit overanxious to speed up the walk (she wanted to “win the race”), and Zelda needing to investigate several smells. We spotted all kinds of dogs, as well as goats, ferrets, and the occasional pet bird on the walk.

It was great to see so many people involved this year and we hope to participate again next year and continue to support this great cause. In addition to the pictures posted here, you can view other pictures from the walk through this link: https://secure2.convio.net/ahs/site/SPageServer?pagename=Walk