Registration is open for the MHBFSA’s Spring Workshop series set for April 20 at the Postma Center at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Grand Rapids.

This day-long set of workshops is offered free of charge to MHBFSA members (up to six members per agency membership) and just $50 for a non-member.

Find the complete details in the attachment below, or click here to go to the MHBFSA's website.

This year’s MAFAK Conference is themed "Hand In Hand Across Michigan." As a bonus this year, the conference features Dr. Bryan Post as a full-day pre-conference presenter on April 26.

The conference keynote is Dr. James Henry on the topic of “Trauma Informed Parenting.” George Duvall will present “No Reason to Fail” and will be the guest entertainer following the Saturday evening banquet. Numerous workshops are offered Friday and Saturday. Sunday’s closing session features Stephen Youngs, speaking about “Parenting Amid the Chaos of Life.”

**NOTE: As of January 2012, membership for MAFAK Parents is free; however, the registration form is required to receive free conference materials and free meals. Each attendee must complete a registration form and will receive an email confirming receipt of the registration form. The 2012 MAFAK Conference is funded by the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS). Parents should check with their local licensing agency for room and travel reimbursement, as these expenses are NOT covered by the DHS Conference funding.

Registration is open to child placing agency personnel after April 6, 2012. If there are meal tickets available after the deadline of April 15, 2012, agency staff will receive meal tickets in their registration packet.

Find the full conference booklet as an attachment below or at http://mafak.co.

Federation Affiliate Member Michigan Home Based Family Services Association invites you to join others who are committed to quality family-centered services throughout Michigan.

New and renewing MHBFSA members benefit from three free trainings annually, discounted pricing for the MHBFSA annual conference (September 27-28, 2012), training hours and free social work CEs at each training, an e-newsletter called Practice, access to the Home Based Standards Guidelines Handbook, listing on and access to the MHBFSA website and more!

Find details about membership and benefits at www.mihomebased.com and in the attachments found below.

Centralized Intake for Abuse and Neglect
Effective March 5, 2012

Centralized Intake (CI) for abuse and neglect complaints will begin taking calls for Children’s Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) at 8:00 am on March 5, 2012. The Department of Human Services is establishing Centralized Intake to ensure consistency across the state in how complaints of abuse and neglect of children and adults are documented and assigned for investigation. Centralized Intake will accept and process reports of alleged abuse and neglect twenty four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week for the entire year.

Please call:
Centralized Intake for Abuse and Neglect
855-444-3911

Toward Successful Adoption: Training for Foster Care & Adoption Workers

This full-day training is approved for six social work continuing credit units and is designed for foster care and adoption workers who are working with foster families and others who are adopting children from the child welfare system.

AM Session: Temperament, Attachment, Trauma & the Brain, Grief & Loss & Common Diagnosis:
How to Better Understand the Children You Are Working With

This three-hour session will focus on the unique needs of children who are being adopted from the child welfare system. The focus will be on the interplay between children’s temperament, attachment styles, trauma, grief and loss, and diagnostic labels. Information will be disseminated that is designed to help caseworkers gain an understanding of the needs of children in foster care to enhance their work with families interested in adopting these children.

PM Session: Helping Children & Families Make Transitions to Adoption

This three-hour session is designed to help participants look at how best to prepare and support foster families and others who are adopting children from the foster care system. Information will be provided about shifting dynamics in foster families who are planning to adopt as well as helping children and families when adoption means moving children. Improving effectiveness in collaboration between foster care and adoption staff during adoption transitions will also be explored.

This program is funded by the Michigan Department of Human Services, thus registration is FREE.

Find all the details and registration instructions in the attachment below.

Toward Successful Adoption: Your Child, Your Family, Your Community

This FREE training is designed for those who have adopted or who are thinking of adopting a child from the child welfare system. Three important areas will be covered:

• Helping families cope with the ‹‹stress of transitioning children from foster care to adoption. 
• Understanding the unique ‹‹needs of children who have been traumatized. 
• Helpful strategies for finding ‹‹and using post adoption resources. 

Training sessions run Friday evening (6:00 PM–9:00 PM) through Saturday (9:00 AM–4:00 PM) on 12 different dates from March through September in cities across the state. Download the attached flier for the complete listing.

                                           Two New Trainings Added for 2012!

Cross Cultural Adoption: Beyond Race

• Understand the impact of ‹‹ethnicity and culture on a child’s identity and self-esteem. 
• Identify the tools and ‹‹tasks necessary to successfully raise a child of another race or culture.
• May 5, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM in Grand Rapids; June 2, 1:00 PM–4:00 PM in Lansing

Helping Children Make Successful Transitions in Adoption

• Understand ways to lessen ‹‹the trauma of moves for children.
• Learn ways to cope with ‹‹your emotions when helping children move.
• May 5, 1:00 PM–4:00 PM in Grand Rapids; June 2, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM in Lansing

The training is FREE, funded by the Michigan Department of Human Services. Attendees can qualify for a small stipend to assist with child care and mileage costs. 

The Michigan Federation for Children and Families' Board of Directors has unanimously approved Hands Across the Water’s full membership application. Based in Ann Arbor, HATW is COA and Hague accredited to provide adoption, foster care and education services. While the agency primarily serves Washtenaw, Wayne, Monroe, Jackson and Livingston counties, it serves families from all of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula as well as numerous other states and other countries for international services.

Welcome to Kathleen Nelson, founder and executive director of Hands Across the Water!

To learn more about HATW, visit www.hatw.org.

Adoption Tax Credit Awareness Day—February 13

We are asking everyone in the adoption community to take part in the first grassroots Adoption Tax Credit Awareness Day. Unfortunately, many adoptive families are still not aware that this tax credit exists. It is our goal to help ensure that all adoptive families who are eligible to receive this benefit are informed about how to claim the credit.

We are asking everyone, including professionals, advocates, state agencies, families, and others to help broadcast the existence of the adoption tax credit on one given day—February 13. You can either copy this text into an e-mail or print flier you share with others or download a flier to distribute.

Save the Date: Plan now to be part of the Adoption Tax Credit Awareness Day on Monday, February 13, 2012—a national effort highlighting the federal tax credit available to adoptive families.

Play Your Part: Join with adoption organizations, state agencies, adoptive families, advocates, and other interested parties to raise visibility of the adoption tax credit. Help spread the word collectively, through website postings, e-mail blasts, newsletters, social media, and other informational outlets, so eligible families that may not be aware of this benefit can be sure to access the credit. Families who adopted as far back as 2005 may still benefit if they haven’t already. Be sure to include non-internet based strategies since some adoptive families do not have access to the internet.

The Facts:
Since 2003, families who adopted a U.S. child with special needs from foster care could claim a federal adoption tax credit even if they had no adoption expenses (as long as their income was below the fairly generous income requirements).

Children who receive adoption assistance/subsidy benefits are considered children with special needs. Even families who receive a deferred subsidy ($0 per month but medical coverage through the subsidy program) are eligible.

Detroit News— It was just a few months ago that LaKeisha Johnson and her small children slept in a car when they couldn't count on a relative or a friend to provide them with a place to stay.

On Thursday, Johnson, 24, showed off her new two-bedroom apartment at Oakman Place Apartments, part of a program to house young, homeless adults, as well as those who have aged out of the state's foster care system.

"This is beautiful," said Johnson, as she showed off the expansive ground floor apartment, fully furnished with new furniture. "It doesn't seem real."

The 24-unit, three-story complex on Oakman Boulevard near Woodrow Wilson includes gated parking and a washer and dryer in each apartment.

The $5.1 million development is the result of a partnership that includes Lutheran Child & Family Service of Michigan, Focus:HOPE and Michigan State Housing Development Authority MSHDA.

Robert G. Miles, president and CEO of Lutheran Child & Family Service of Michigan, said the Oakman Place program provides adequate housing and other support services for homeless youth and those who "age out of the welfare system."

"Very few of our own children make the transition into adulthood without ongoing support and supportive services," Miles said. "Through this development, we have become more sensitized to the number of families who are challenged to find adequate, safe and affordable housing."

Miles said Thursday he hopes the residents will "love each other, support each other and become a community."

Selecting the first families to live in Oakman Place was a difficult task for social worker Carolyn Rayford, the deputy regional director for Lutheran Child & Family Service.

LANSING, October 6, 2011 – Child and Family Charities (formerly Child & Family Services, Capital Area) publicly announced the organization’s name change and new logo with an unveiling of their new sign on Monday, October 3, 2011 at the agency’s main office building located at 4287 Five Oaks Drive, Lansing, MI 48911.
Attending the festivities were community leaders, board members, volunteers, and agency staff. This year marked Child and Family Charities’ 100 years of service to the mid-Michigan region, established in 1911 as Lansing Associated Charities. Michelle Reurink, President, Child and Family Charities Board of Directors, stated, “It was the significance of the anniversary combined with long- standing name ambiguity that compelled us to action in selecting a name that better reflects the agency’s focus and cultivates stronger community support.” Jim Paparella, Executive Director, added, “The new name and look takes us back to the very roots of our founding purpose as a charitable organization: to serve as an effective partner for social change through programs and initiatives which benefit children, families, and community. At the same time, the change recognizes years of strategic growth through collaboration and alliances, from the advent of Angel House to recent mergers with Lansing Teen Court and Child Abuse Prevention Services.”
The agency’s core divisions include Child Welfare Services, Family Services, Child Abuse Prevention Services, Juvenile Justice Services, and Residential Services. If you would like more information about Child and Family Charities, please call Demphna Krikorian at (517) 882-4000, extension 126 or email: demphna@childandfamily.org.

Detroit, MI (August 15, 2011). The Children’s Center is very pleased to announce that Chief Executive Officer Debora Matthews was selected to receive the 2011 EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award. This award is given to distinguished individuals as part of Disabilities Awareness Day recognition events nationwide. Debora was chosen from an impressive list of local candidates for her dedication and commitment to, and advocacy for, those with special needs.

The mission of Disability Awareness Night (DAN) is to expand awareness of the 54.6 million Americans living with disabilities, by highlighting their extraordinary achievements and the perseverance and dedication of the families, physicians, nurses, therapists, educators and other caregivers involved in their care and development. The presentation of the EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award (named after the founder and former editor-in-chief of Exceptional Parent magazine, EP) at each Disability Awareness Night signifies the remarkable accomplishments that can be achieved under difficult circumstances.

Debora was honored on August 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Comerica Park prior to the Detroit Tigers game. The Children’s Center took more than 50 children and their families to the park for the ceremony and game, compliments of sponsors Barbara Gill, Principal, Seymour Gill Financial, a MassMutual agency and their Special Care program and Exceptional Parent Magazine.

According to Debora Matthews, “This award is truly an honor. I get the greatest reward seeing hope on the faces of children when they finally understand their so-called disability really gives them the ability to strive for a greater future.”

BY ROBIN ERB DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

On an annual basis, the Michigan statewide Foster Care Review Board recognizes one jurist (judge or referee), one foster care case worker, one lawyer-guardian ad litem (LGAL), a single foster parent or foster parent couple, and one parent attorney for exemplary service to abused or neglected children in the Michigan foster care system. Nominations for the 2011 Child Welfare Awards are now available. Click the category to make the nomination; you may have to press and hold the CTRL key while making your selection:

Jurist of the Year: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/

Foster Care Worker of the Year: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/

LGAL of the Year: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/

Foster Parent of the Year: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/

Parent Attorney of the Year: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/

Deadline for submission is September 15, 2011. Recipients of all awards will be recognized at the FCRB Annual Training Conference on November 10, 2011, in Southfield, MI.

The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children providing materials for interventions

ALBION, MI – The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC), a program of the Starr Institute for Training, is currently providing intervention assistance to professionals from the Tokyo Center for Play Therapy in Japan who work with survivors of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

Among TLC’s many resources and tools for working with traumatized children, adolescents and adults is the best-selling storybook “Brave Bart,” about a young kitten who overcomes a sad and scary event with the help of a helpful neighborhood cat. This playfully illustrated story normalizes many trauma-related reactions children experience. Kyoko Kobayashi Porteux, a TLC Certified Trauma Specialist, translated the book into Japanese.

TLC Director Caelan Kuban has been in touch with Yumiko Ogawa Fariss from Tokyo Center for Play Therapy who asked for the Japanese translation of the storybook. This organization believes that “Brave Bart” will be extremely helpful to the people of Japan experiencing disaster and loss, especially young children.

“They are very thankful to have access to ‘Brave Bart,’ and it is my professional belief that several thousand children will benefit from the therapeutic messages in the book,” said Kuban. “The devastation in Japan is beyond our comprehension. We are deeply saddened by the tremendous amount of loss but more than willing to provide any assistance we can toward the healing process.”

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder has decided to retain the children's ombudsman appointed by his Democratic predecessor.

Snyder's office announced Wednesday that he has reappointed Verlie Ruffin of Detroit to the job. Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Ruffin in 2006. She was confirmed unanimously that year by the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Ruffin previously was associate director of the Michigan Federation for Children and Families for 20 years. She also taught in the Detroit Public Schools. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Michigan State University.

The Office of the Children's Ombudsman is an independent government agency that works to assure the safety and welfare of Michigan children involved in foster care, adoption or protective services.

The office investigates complaints and recommends improvements to laws and policy affecting children.