Our Blog

Shelter’s Pride is Showing!

Children and adolescents who identify as LGBTQ+, just like all children, enter the child welfare system because their biological families cannot provide safe and nurturing homes. However, LGBTQ+ youths are overrepresented in the system.
Multiple studies show between 25 – 43% of LGBTQ+ youth are homeless because of their family’s non-acceptance of their sexual orientation or gender identity…

Kids and the Mental Health Pandemic

Since March of 2020, the pandemic fists have been pummeling children from every direction, just as they have adults, but often in different ways. Before we can learn how to help our kids, we need to know their challenges, and there we have help.

Foster Care Programs: Because Every Child Deserves a Family

May being National Foster Care Month, I asked Erica Schultz, our Foster Care Licensing Specialist, what she would like to tell people about our programs. Two things immediately came to her mind.
First, the goals of Shelter’s Foster Care Programs are different from adoption agencies. The purpose of adoption agencies is to facilitate adoptions between birth parents and adoptive parents. Adoption is a forever commitment…

Leah’s Story: A Helping Hand Prevents Neglect

Child neglect, a form of child abuse, can be defined as not meeting a child’s needs in any of four areas: physical, medical, emotional, or educational. Yet, some of a child’s needs, like food and shelter, are more obvious than others.
Until babies come with instruction books, parenting skills need to be learned. Some learn from their parents or other family members. For those without the benefit of positive and knowledgeable role models, parenting can be especially frightening and overwhelming…

Shelter Confronts Child Welfare Inequity

The harsh reality is not all children are represented equally in the child welfare system, nor do they have equal outcomes. For example, in the American population of children, African Americans make up 15%, but they represent 33% of foster care children. Yet, study after study show child abuse and neglect is lower in Black families than white families…

Celebrating Black History Month

During her 40-year career as a judge in the Domestic Relations Court, Jane saw the worst domestic violence cases, child neglect, discrimination, and the effects of poverty. Being a life-long advocate for children, she made significant changes that last today. Among her accomplishments was ending race-based assignments of juvenile probation officers and ensuring childcare agencies could no longer deny children help because of ethnic background, furthering children’s rights and children’s education….

What Happened to COVID Vaccines for Kids?

To get the facts about COVID vaccines for kids, we researched what the scientific community was posting from Dr. Fauci to Science News, the CDC, the FDA, and many health experts in between. Below is information on which they all agree.

Thanks For the Memories

‘Tis the holiday season when gift-giving plays a prominent role. Much time is spent finding the perfect toy, the right-size clothes, or anything for that hard-to-shop-for relative. Too often, we forget the best gift of all is a happy memory. It can last a lifetime, be opened again and again, and shared…

Shelter Expands Mental Health Services

In response to the needs of children and families in crisis, Shelter is introducing our new Clinical Program. Our staff of experienced, licensed therapists will provide mental health counseling for children we serve and their family members whose mental health impacts their outcomes…

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