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America’s boys and men are falling behind… mentoring can help

An excellent new article in the Wall Street Journal by Rachel Wolfe has drawn new attention to the struggles of boys and young men in the U.S. As Wolfe notes, in homes across America, a troubling trend is emerging. While data for young women are gradually improving, many of their male counterparts are struggling to find their footing. This disparity is reshaping the landscape of American youth and raising concerns about the future of an entire generation. It also has implications for mentoring programs.

An excellent new article in the Wall Street Journal by Rachel Wolfe has drawn new attention to the struggles of boys and young men in the U.S. As Wolfe notes, in homes across America, a troubling trend is emerging. While data for young women are gradually improving, many of their male counterparts are struggling to find their footing. This disparity is reshaping the landscape of American youth and raising concerns about the future of an entire generation. It also has implications for mentoring programs.

Read here
Article

Will & Harper

When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.

When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.

Watch on Netflix
Movies/TV

Article Summary for "However Kindly Intentioned"

Summarized by a CASA stu, this explains the high points of the article entitled "However Kindly Intentioned: Structural Racism and CASA" .

Link to the full article can be found here.

Read it here
Article

However Kindly Intentioned: Structural Racism and CASA

Published by the City University of New York Law Review, this article explores CASA and systemic racism.

Published by the City University of New York Law Review, this article explores CASA and systemic racism.

You can find a summary of the article here.

Read it here
Article

Strengthening Your Families Webinars

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) in conjunction with their adoption advocacy partner, The Jockey Being Family Foundation, offers 600 FREE registrations to each Strengthening Your Family (SYF) Webinar with 10 webinars offered each year. These webinars focus on a variety of relevant topics for adoptive, foster and kinship parents as well as the professionals who serve them.

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) in conjunction with their adoption advocacy partner, The Jockey Being Family Foundation, offers 600 FREE registrations to each Strengthening Your Family (SYF) Webinar with 10 webinars offered each year. These webinars focus on a variety of relevant topics for adoptive, foster and kinship parents as well as the professionals who serve them.

Find the current list here
Webinar

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely proud people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.

When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely proud people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream by Richard Antoine White

From the streets of Baltimore to the halls of the New Mexico Philharmonic, a musician shares his remarkable story in I'm Possible, an inspiring memoir of perseverance and possibility. Growing up, Richard Antoine White and his mother didn't have a key to a room or a house. Sometimes they had shelter, but they never had a place to call home. Still, they always had each other, and from a young age, Richard believed he could look after his mother, even as she struggled with alcoholism and would frequently disappear, sending Richard into loops of visiting familiar spots until he found her again. And he always did--until one night, when he almost dies searching for her in the snow, and is taken in by his adoptive grandparents.

From the streets of Baltimore to the halls of the New Mexico Philharmonic, a musician shares his remarkable story in I'm Possible, an inspiring memoir of perseverance and possibility. Growing up, Richard Antoine White and his mother didn't have a key to a room or a house. Sometimes they had shelter, but they never had a place to call home. Still, they always had each other, and from a young age, Richard believed he could look after his mother, even as she struggled with alcoholism and would frequently disappear, sending Richard into loops of visiting familiar spots until he found her again. And he always did--until one night, when he almost dies searching for her in the snow, and is taken in by his adoptive grandparents.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

Mad Honey tells the story of two women who have fled abusive pasts to make a new life in the small town of Adams, New Hampshire. When one is found dead, and the other finds her son accused of the murder, the tense courtroom drama that unfolds shines light on the true cost of secrets kept for love.

Mad Honey tells the story of two women who have fled abusive pasts to make a new life in the small town of Adams, New Hampshire. When one is found dead, and the other finds her son accused of the murder, the tense courtroom drama that unfolds shines light on the true cost of secrets kept for love.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

A pioneering researcher and one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children.The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.‍

A pioneering researcher and one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children.

The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom

The story of Juneteenth highlights how hope has endured from 1865 to today. In doing so, it paints an important picture of freedom and the redemptive suffering for the discouraged and hopeful, Black and White, skeptics and saints, and all of us.

The story of Juneteenth highlights how hope has endured from 1865 to today. In doing so, it paints an important picture of freedom and the redemptive suffering for the discouraged and hopeful, Black and White, skeptics and saints, and all of us.

Watch here
Movies/TV

The Spirit of Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known — a legend in the NFL, MLB, NCAA, and in the Olympics. Today he is being celebrated by a new generation of Native Americans.

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known — a legend in the NFL, MLB, NCAA, and in the Olympics. Today he is being celebrated by a new generation of Native Americans.

Listen here
Podcast

Reveal Podcast: Cashing in on Troubled Teens

How the country’s biggest psychiatric hospital chain is profiting off kids trapped in a broken child welfare system.
Listen here
Podcast

Getting Curious podcast: Who Does America's Child Welfare System Serve?

Each year, more than 250,000 children in America are removed from their families by judicial means—and more than 3.5 million children are investigated by child welfare agencies. Most of these children are Black, Indigenous, queer, disabled, and otherwise marginalized. And much of the tens of billions of dollars allotted each year to so-called “child welfare” is spent on separating families. This week’s guest Dorothy Roberts joins Jonathan to discuss how this system operates; who it most harms; and what it has to do with mass incarceration, police brutality, and centuries’ worth of inequities in this country.

Each year, more than 250,000 children in America are removed from their families by judicial means—and more than 3.5 million children are investigated by child welfare agencies. Most of these children are Black, Indigenous, queer, disabled, and otherwise marginalized. And much of the tens of billions of dollars allotted each year to so-called “child welfare” is spent on separating families. This week’s guest Dorothy Roberts joins Jonathan to discuss how this system operates; who it most harms; and what it has to do with mass incarceration, police brutality, and centuries’ worth of inequities in this country.

Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a contributor to the 1619 Project book and the author of four books, including the best-selling Killing the Black Body. Her path breaking work in law and public policy focuses on urgent social justice issues in policing, family regulation, science, medicine, and bioethics.  She has been featured in countless media outlets including The New York Times, New York Magazine, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, Vice News, CNN, ABC, and many others. She lives in Philadelphia.

CW: This episode discusses police violence, bodily harm, and hateful rhetoric.

Listen here
Podcast

CASA on the Go Podcast

Provided by Texas CASA, this continuing education podcast connects CASA volunteers with engaging and relevant training designed to help strengthen advocacy for children and families. Each short, dynamic episode features informative discussions with subject matter experts exploring topics connected to child welfare and best practices for CASA advocacy. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) in their personal capacity and are not the official policy or position of Texas (or Douglas County) CASA.

Provided by Texas CASA, this continuing education podcast connects CASA volunteers with engaging and relevant training designed to help strengthen advocacy for children and families. Each short, dynamic episode features informative discussions with subject matter experts exploring topics connected to child welfare and best practices for CASA advocacy. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) in their personal capacity and are not the official policy or position of Texas (or Douglas County) CASA.

CASA on the Go
Podcast

Are ACEs as Determinative as We Think?

From "Psychotherapy Networker", two trauma experts weigh in on connection, community and the tyranny of diagnosis.

From "Psychotherapy Networker", two trauma experts weigh in on connection, community and the tyranny of diagnosis.

Read here
Article

Building Hope for Family Healing and Recovery

This webinar highlights concrete strategies collaborators can use to improve outcomes for families affected by substance use and mental health disorders.

Building Hope for Family Healing and Recovery - National Center for Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

This webinar introduced the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare’s (NCSACW) new publication, Building Hope for Families Affected by Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders: A Blueprint for an Effective System of Care to Promote Lasting Recovery and Family Well-Being. The webinar highlighted concrete strategies collaboratives can use to improve outcomes for families affected by substance use and mental health disorders. Participants learned about: 1) lessons and strategies sites use to implement the pillars of an effective system of care while promoting hope and recovery for families, 2) Children and Family Future’s (CFF) 10 Essential Pillars of an Effective System of Care—and corresponding strategies for practitioners and policymakers, and 3) Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) and in-depth technical assistance (IDTA) initiatives.

Watch via NCSACW
Webinar

IEP Meeting Tips for Kids of Color

Meant for parents but useful for educational advocates, this resource helps you understand how to advocate for a child of color in IEP meetings with tips about documentation, goal setting, and next steps.

Meeting with the school to plan your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) can be intimidating. This is true for any parent or guardian. But you may feel an extra layer of unease if you’re the only Black or brown person in the room.

Listen to this episode of The Opportunity Gap to get IEP meeting tips for parents of kids of color. Learn from Taína Coleman, a mom of two and an education specialist at the Child Mind Institute. See how she uses her experience in special education to explain:

  • Which documents you have the right to see before the meeting
  • How to ask if the IEP’s annual goals are aiming high enough
  • What to do if you don’t feel ready to sign the IEP

Listen here
Podcast

2024 Annual Review with Judge Klepper & Danielle Packer

The Citizen Review Board and Douglas County CASA submitted questions for Judge Paul Klepper and panel attorney Danielle Packer to weigh in on.

The Citizen Review Board and Douglas County CASA submitted questions for Judge Paul Klepper and panel attorney Danielle Packer to weigh in on.

Find it on YouTube here
Webinar

National CASA Webinars

National CASA has shared all their archived webinars from 2023. Find the list here, with links to connect you to the webinars.

National CASA has shared all their archived webinars from 2023. Find the list here, with links to connect you to the webinars.

Find the list here
Webinar

Why Mandatory Reporting Doesn’t Keep Children Safe

Learn about the history of mandatory reporting and whether or not it helps reduce child abuse and neglect.

Learn about the history of mandatory reporting and whether or not it helps reduce child abuse and neglect.

Find the article here
Article

The Body Keeps the Score: Healing Trauma Through Somatics

A discussion with Bessel van der Kolk, MD and Peter A. Levine, PhD about the concepts included in van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps the Score."

A discussion with Bessel van der Kolk, MD and Peter A. Levine, PhD about the concepts included in van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps the Score."

Link to webinar recording
Webinar

Mindspring Mental Health Alliance Webinars

Mindspring provides free mental health education opportunities to the public through webinars on a wide variety of mental health topics. All webinars are free and open to the public. Webinars are recorded and emailed to all registrants. Certificates of attendance are administered to anyone who participates in the live webinar and completes the survey at the end.

Mindspring provides free mental health education opportunities to the public through webinars on a wide variety of mental health topics. All webinars are free and open to the public. Webinars are recorded and emailed to all registrants. Certificates of attendance are administered to anyone who participates in the live webinar and completes the survey at the end.

Find webinars here
Webinar

Institute of Child Psychology Webinars

The Institute of Child Psychology was founded to educate parents and professionals on issues pertaining to children’s mental health, and to promote the psychological and emotional well-being of children and adolescents. You'll find the most current, relevant, evidence-based, and neurobiologically informed practices featured in their various webinars.

The Institute of Child Psychology was founded to educate parents and professionals on issues pertaining to children’s mental health, and to promote the psychological and emotional well-being of children and adolescents. You'll find the most current, relevant, evidence-based, and neurobiologically informed practices featured in their various webinars.

View Webinars here
Webinar

Suicide Prevention Trainings

The Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters offers multiple trainings and webinars to help equip people with suicide prevention information. Sign up for self-paced trainings or live webinars.
Find trainings here
Webinar

I Am Jazz

Although assigned male at birth, Jazz is a transgender female and has been living as a girl since kindergarten. Jazz's family has stood side-by-side with her as she's battled discrimination, hate speech, online bullying and more.

Although assigned male at birth, Jazz is a transgender female and has been living as a girl since kindergarten. Jazz's family has stood side-by-side with her as she's battled discrimination, hate speech, online bullying and more.

Watch for free online
Movies/TV

ADHD and Complex Trauma

The Inattentive, Impulsive and Hyperactive Child: Is Childhood Trauma Buried Amongst ADHD?
Read online
Article

Symposia: Torn Apart & Prosecuting Poverty (LPE Project)

The Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project brings together a network of scholars, practitioners, and students working to develop innovative intellectual, pedagogical, and political interventions to advance the study of political economy and law. "Symposia" discusses racial inequities within the child welfare system.
Find the articles here
Article

Addressing Poverty to Keep Families Together with Sarah Winograd

Sarah Winograd’s journey as a “professional volunteer” led to the realization that poverty was a driving factor in the child removals in the families she was working with. See how Sarah mobilized her community to address family poverty to help families stay together. Through the Together for Families program, Sarah lives out her vision of supporting families by helping them meet basic needs.
Seen Out Loud Podcast Episode Link
Podcast

Torn Apart by Dorothy Roberts

An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Kansas City's Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home by Margie Carr

Our own Margie Carr wrote Kansas City’s Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home, the extraordinary, century-old history of one city block whose residents shaped the changing status of Black people in Kansas City and built the social and economic institutions that supported the city’s Black community during the first half of the twentieth century. The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.

Our own Margie Carr wrote Kansas City’s Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home, the extraordinary, century-old history of one city block whose residents shaped the changing status of Black people in Kansas City and built the social and economic institutions that supported the city’s Black community during the first half of the twentieth century. The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.

Buy Here
Book

Understanding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Child Welfare Practice Tips

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) developed this technical assistance tool for child welfare professionals who serve children and families affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and parental substance use disorders. It provides a broad overview of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), their effect on child development, and treatment for FASD.
Find the article here
Article

National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Webinars

A consistently updated list of upcoming webinars curated by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute on various topics in the realm of child welfare.
Find their calendar here
Webinar

Kansas foster care providers working to address children's mental health needs

Amid a statewide mental health crisis, vulnerable children and teens in the state foster care system have been hard-hit by a scarcity of resources.
Article and Link Here
Podcast

Maid

After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future.
Available on Netflix
Movies/TV

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Oskar is convinced that his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a message for him hidden in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother and driven by an active mind that refuses to believe in things that can't be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father's closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his loss to a greater understanding of the world around him.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Movies/TV

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The story of a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own past. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez

A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children.
Available on Netflix
Movies/TV

We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor

In We Got This Cornelius Minor describes how this conversation moved him toward realizing that listening to children is one of the most powerful things a teacher can do. By listening carefully, Cornelius discovered something that kids find themselves having to communicate far too often. That "my lessons were not, at all, linked to that student's reality."
Available on Amazon
Book

Dopesick

The story of how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. Look into the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of "one percenter" Big Pharma Manhattan.
Available on Hulu
Movies/TV

Dopesick by Beth Macy

Chronicles America's more than twenty-year struggle with opioid addiction, from the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, through the spread of addiction in distressed communities in Central Appalachia, to the current national crisis.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Brilliant attorney Woo Young-woo tackles challenges in the courtroom and beyond as a newbie at a top law firm and a woman on the autism spectrum.
Watch on Netflix
Movies/TV

A Placed Called Home

A Place Called Home is both David's powerful personal account through the lens of a child surviving it daily. And as the go-to child welfare advocate for the Obama administration and major U.S. companies, A Place Called Home is a beckoning call to our national conscience to move from pity to action.

A Place Called Home is both David's powerful personal account through the lens of a child surviving it daily. And as the go-to child welfare advocate for the Obama administration and major U.S. companies, A Place Called Home is a beckoning call to our national conscience to move from pity to action.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, and unexpected friendship. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, and unexpected friendship. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

When Ree Dollys father skips bail, the 16-year-old knows if he doesn't show up, her family will lose their home. Her goal had been to leave her life of poverty and join the Army, but first she must find her father, teach her little brothers to fend for themselves, and escape a downward spiral of misery. Copies also available in the CASA office.

When Ree Dollys father skips bail, the 16-year-old knows if he doesn't show up, her family will lose their home. Her goal had been to leave her life of poverty and join the Army, but first she must find her father, teach her little brothers to fend for themselves, and escape a downward spiral of misery. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Winter's Bone

Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails to find him, she and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Movies/TV

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Walls has written a stunning and life-affirming memoir about surviving a willfully impoverished, eccentric, and severely misguided family. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Walls has written a stunning and life-affirming memoir about surviving a willfully impoverished, eccentric, and severely misguided family. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

The Glass Castle

A successful New York writer tries to reconcile her well-ordered life of privilege with her nomadic childhood ruled by a quixotic, unstable father. Also available to check out from Lawrence Public Library: https://lawrence.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S119C292590
Watch on Netflix
Movies/TV

Till

The true story of Mamie Till-Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally lynched in 1955 while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Movies/TV

Beautiful Boy

Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.

The original book is also available at Lawrence Public Library: https://lawrence.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S119C328750

Available on Amazon Prime
Movies/TV

Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

An inspiring true story of the tumultuous nine years Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent in the foster care system, and how she triumphed over painful memories and real-life horrors to ultimately find her own voice. Copies also available in the CASA office.

An inspiring true story of the tumultuous nine years Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent in the foster care system, and how she triumphed over painful memories and real-life horrors to ultimately find her own voice. Copies also available in the CASA office.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Joe Bell

The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay. Also available from Lawrence Public Library via Kanopy: https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/11475900?vp=lawrencepl

Watch on Amazon Prime
Movies/TV

Kansas Children's Service League's Upcoming Trainings

Trainings provided by the Kansas Children's Service League.

KCSL offers regular trainings, so we have linked their site in order for you to peruse what's upcoming.

KCSL Trainings
Webinar

Opeeka Podcast

Opeeka believes the goal of using technology is to make life easier, more productive as well as increasing health & wellness. Opeeka’s mission is to keep the person in the center of care, which helps assist with equity and have an impact of the Social Determinants of Health. An important pillar of their work is to increase collaborations among systems. These podcasts can serve as a conduit for sharing knowledge, innovations and strengthening collaborative efforts worldwide.

Opeeka believes the goal of using technology is to make life easier, more productive as well as increasing health & wellness. Opeeka’s mission is to keep the person in the center of care, which helps assist with equity and have an impact of the Social Determinants of Health. An important pillar of their work is to increase collaborations among systems. These podcasts can serve as a conduit for sharing knowledge, innovations and strengthening collaborative efforts worldwide.

Not all podcast episodes will be applicable to CASA work, but there are a number of useful conversations exploring the child welfare system.

Oopeka Podcast
Podcast

Missing From Care: Preventing and Responding to Sex Trafficking of Youth

1in 6 of the children reported missing who had run away were likely child sex trafficking victims. This startling figure demonstrates the safety risks and vulnerability facing children who are leaving home or foster care placements. Hear from our presenter, Melissa Snow, to learn more about how we can work together to locate missing children, and how a trauma-informed and youth-centered recovery plan has the power to impact running behavior.
Watch online for free
Movies/TV

Loving

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.
Watch on Netflix
Movies/TV

Congratulations, You're On Your Own: Life After Foster Care

Congratulations, You’re On Your Own: Life After Foster Care is feature-length documentary that follows young adults navigating life after foster care.

Through telling their stories and by hearing from professionals in the field, the film explains how children enter the foster care system, what happens while they are there, and especially what it's like as they transition out of it. Many of the hardships these youth face come to light as they allow unfettered access into their current situation and provide candid recollection and insight into their past. Along the journey of telling these unbelievable stories, the documentary shows how individuals, organizations, and communities work to improve the lives of these young adults – and how YOU can make a difference!

Watch the movie for free on PBS
Movies/TV

2022 Criminal Justice Research Findings from the Vera Institute

The Vera Institute of Justice, an independent nonprofit national research and policy organization hired by Justice Matters, recently presented its research findings to the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission.

The Vera Institute of Justice, an independent nonprofit national research and policy organization hired by Justice Matters, recently presented its research findings to the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission.

The Executive Summary can be found here.

2022 Douglas County Jail Analysis
Article

Foster Village Lawrence

Learn more about Village Lawrence, a new non-profit supporting relative and foster homes in Lawrence and the surrounding communities
Youtube Video
Webinar

ADD/ADHD | What Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?

Here’s everything you need to know about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Thomas E. Brown, PhD, discusses ADHD diagnosis, ADHD symptoms, available ADHD treatment options, and ADHD medication. As our expert says, ADD/ADHD is not a behavior problem. It has far more to do with the brain’s management system. Remember, ADHD has nothing to do with how smart a person is.
Watch on YouTube
Other

Neurobiological Development in the Context of Childhood Trauma

Neurobiological systems may be particularly susceptible to deleterious impact of childhood trauma, and the impact of childhood trauma on development and subsequent functional outcomes across the lifespan has been well-documented. The current review addresses the neurobiological impact of exposure to interpersonal trauma in childhood in the context of executive function, emotion regulation, and dissociation/interoceptive awareness. Subsequent risk for PTSD and depression is also discussed. The pathway of risk from childhood trauma to these cognitive, emotional, and psychiatric outcomes is addressed in terms of potential structural and functional alterations within the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala resulting from chronic or repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its interaction with and influence on genetic and epigenetic processes during sensitive periods of development. Implications for practice are discussed.

Neurobiological systems may be particularly susceptible to deleterious impact of childhood trauma, and the impact of childhood trauma on development and subsequent functional outcomes across the lifespan has been well-documented. The current review addresses the neurobiological impact of exposure to interpersonal trauma in childhood in the context of executive function, emotion regulation, and dissociation/interoceptive awareness. Subsequent risk for PTSD and depression is also discussed. The pathway of risk from childhood trauma to these cognitive, emotional, and psychiatric outcomes is addressed in terms of potential structural and functional alterations within the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala resulting from chronic or repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its interaction with and influence on genetic and epigenetic processes during sensitive periods of development. Implications for practice are discussed.

Link to Article on NIH Website
Article

Supporting Children, Staff, and School at Times of Crisis and Loss

Presented by Dr. David Schonfeld, MD. Supporting Children, Staff, and School at Times of Crisis and Loss. Crisis and loss are common in the lives of students, whether due to a crisis involving a student’s individual family or one that affects the entire school community. This webinar will help school professionals learn basic skills in how to talk with and support individual students or the entire class/school as they struggle to understand and cope with a crisis and loss in their lives.

Presented by Dr. David Schonfeld, MD. Supporting Children, Staff, and School at Times of Crisis and Loss. Crisis and loss are common in the lives of students, whether due to a crisis involving a student’s individual family or one that affects the entire school community. This webinar will help school professionals learn basic skills in how to talk with and support individual students or the entire class/school as they struggle to understand and cope with a crisis and loss in their lives.

Link to Webinar Recording & Handouts
Webinar

Reaching "Unreachable" Teens & Tweens

Kate Sample, MA, LPC, has spent most her clinical career as a therapist working with at-risk tweens and teens in residential, school, community, and private settings. A passionate advocate for ongoing professional development, she transitioned her skills to the continuing education world, where she’s developed treatment-focused trainings, conferences, and publications for PESI.
Psychotherapy Networker Article
Article

What's Not on the Test: The Overlooked Factors That Determine Success

A look at why the lives of high school graduate and GED test takers' lives vary so drastically when their test scores are roughly equal.‍

A  look at why the lives of high school graduate and GED test takers'  lives vary so drastically when their test scores are roughly equal.

Hidden Brain (NPR) Link
Podcast

Anatomy of Doubt from "This American Life"

A story about doubt: how it germinated, spread, and eventually took hold of an entire community, with terrible consequences. A collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica. A story from "This American Life" from Feb 26, 2016 and about the story of a girl who was raped and not believed and the subject of the Neflix series "Unbelievable."‍

A story about doubt: how it germinated, spread, and eventually took hold of an entire community, with terrible consequences. A collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica. A story from "This American Life" from Feb 26, 2016 and about the story of a girl who was raped and not believed and the subject of the Neflix series "Unbelievable."

This American Life Podcast Link
Podcast

Zipcode Destiny: The Persistent Power Of Place And Education

The stories we tell about ourselves — stories of success and stories of failure — often have their beginnings in the distant past. Sometimes, they start in our childhoods. Sometimes, before we were even born.This idea may sound poetic, but when it comes to economic mobility, there's evidence to back it up. Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard, is responsible for some of the most powerful evidence, drawing on data from many millions of Americans.Raj has found that early variables in your life, from the quality of your kindergarten teacher to the neighborhood you grew up in, can have lasting effects. And those effects often result in dramatically divergent outcomes in different parts of the country."People ask... is the American dream alive or not today? And I actually think the question itself is sort of ill-posed," Raj says. "The term 'the American Dream' --really we should think of it as 'the Iowa Dream' or 'the Atlanta Dream' or 'the California Dream' because there's so much variation within this country."Today we ask some questions that carry big implications: can you put an economic value on a great kindergarten teacher? How is it that two children living just a few blocks from each other can have radically different chances in life? What gives Salt Lake City an edge over Cleveland when it comes to offering people better prospects than their parents? The state of your American Dream, this week on Hidden Brain.

The stories we tell about ourselves — stories of success and stories of failure — often have their beginnings in the distant past. Sometimes, they start in our childhoods. Sometimes, before we were even born.

This idea may sound poetic, but when it comes to economic mobility, there's evidence to back it up. Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard, is responsible for some of the most powerful evidence, drawing on data from many millions of Americans.

Raj has found that early variables in your life, from the quality of your kindergarten teacher to the neighborhood you grew up in, can have lasting effects. And those effects often result in dramatically divergent outcomes in different parts of the country.

"People ask... is the American dream alive or not today? And I actually think the question itself is sort of ill-posed," Raj says. "The term 'the American Dream' --really we should think of it as 'the Iowa Dream' or 'the Atlanta Dream' or 'the California Dream' because there's so much variation within this country."

Today we ask some questions that carry big implications: can you put an economic value on a great kindergarten teacher? How is it that two children living just a few blocks from each other can have radically different chances in life? What gives Salt Lake City an edge over Cleveland when it comes to offering people better prospects than their parents? The state of your American Dream, this week on Hidden Brain.

Hidden Brain (NPR) Link
Podcast

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

This memoir, which tells the story of Machado’s abusive relationship with another woman, is an act of personal and formal bravery. ‍

This memoir, which tells the story of Machado’s abusive relationship with another woman, is an act of personal and formal bravery.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Snyder

Snyder highlights an epidemic of unacknowledged violence. Fifty women a month are shot and killed by their partners, and she explores the problem from multiple perspectives: the victims, the aggressors and a society that turns a blind eye.

Snyder highlights an epidemic of unacknowledged violence. Fifty women a month are shot and killed by their partners, and she explores the problem from multiple perspectives: the victims, the aggressors and a society that turns a blind eye.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

In her unstinting memoir — a portrait of working-class poverty in America — Land scrapes by on $9 an hour cleaning houses to support herself and her young daughter. ‍

In her unstinting memoir — a portrait of working-class poverty in America — Land scrapes by on $9 an hour cleaning houses to support herself and her young daughter.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

How To Be An Antiracist: A Memoir by Ibram X. Kendi

Despite the nature of its title, Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism.‍

Despite the nature of its title, Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones

In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. ‍

In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

A book-length letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, Samori. In it, Coates explains to Samori what it means to be a black man in America. ‍

A book-length letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, Samori. In it, Coates explains to Samori what it means to be a black man in America.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Details how federal housing policies in the 1940s and '50s mandated segregation and undermined the ability of black families to own homes and build wealth.

Details how federal housing policies in the 1940s and '50s mandated segregation and undermined the ability of black families to own homes and build wealth.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

The Age of Overwhelm: Strategies for the Long Haul by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Whether we are overwhelmed by work or school; our families or communities; caretaking for others or ourselves; or engagement in social justice, environmental advocacy, or civil service, just a few subtle shifts can help sustain us. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, bestselling author of Trauma Stewardship, shows us how by offering concrete strategies to help us mitigate harm, cultivate our ability to be decent and equitable, and act with integrity. The Age of Overwhelm aims to help ease our burden of overwhelm, restore our perspective, and give us strength to navigate what is yet to come.

Whether we are overwhelmed by work or school; our families or communities; caretaking for others or ourselves; or engagement in social justice, environmental advocacy, or civil service, just a few subtle shifts can help sustain us. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, bestselling author of Trauma Stewardship, shows us how by offering concrete strategies to help us mitigate harm, cultivate our ability to be decent and equitable, and act with integrity. The Age of Overwhelm aims to help ease our burden of overwhelm, restore our perspective, and give us strength to navigate what is yet to come.

Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

This book is written for anyone who is doing work with an intention to make the world more sustainable and hopeful—all in all, a better place—and who, through this work, is exposed to the hardship, pain, crisis, trauma, or suffering of other living beings or the planet itself. It is for those who notice that they are not the same people they once were, or are being told by their families, friends, colleagues, or pets that something is different about them. Also available at the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library
Book

Throwaway Kids: Part 1: WE ARE SENDING MORE FOSTER KIDS TO PRISON THAN COLLEGE

The Kansas City Star has examined what happens to kids who age out of foster care and found that, by nearly every measure, states are failing in their role as parents to America’s most vulnerable children.

The Kansas City Star has examined what happens to kids who age out of foster care and found that, by nearly every measure, states are failing in their role as parents to America’s most vulnerable children.

Read online at The Kansas City Star
Article

It’s Time to Stop Confusing Poverty With Neglect

If we truly care about children and families, it's time to stop confusing poverty with neglect and devote ourselves to doing something about it.
Find at Children's Bureau Express
Article

SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (Paper/Article) - July 2014

The purpose of this paper is to develop a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and to develop a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups.

Trauma is a widespread, harmful and costly public health problem. It occurs as a result of violence, abuse, neglect, loss, disaster, war and other emotionally harmful experiences. Trauma has no boundaries with regard to age, gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, geography or sexual orientation. It is an almost universal experience of people with mental and substance use disorders. The purpose of this paper is to develop a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and to develop a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups. SAMHSA puts forth a framework for the behavioral health specialty sectors, that can be adapted to other sectors such as child welfare, education, criminal and juvenile justice, primary health care, the military and other settings that have the potential to ease or exacerbate an individual’s capacity to cope with traumatic experiences … The desired goal is to build a framework that helps systems “talk” to each other, to understand better the connections between trauma and behavioral health issues, and to guide systems to become trauma-informed" (p. 2-3). Sections of this publication include: introduction; purpose and approach—developing a framework for trauma and a trauma-informed approach; background—trauma—where we are and how we got here; SMAHSA's concept of trauma; SAMHSA's trauma-informed approach—key assumptions and principles; guidance for implementing a trauma-informed approach; next steps—trauma in the context of community; and conclusion

Link to PDF
Article

Caught with Kai Wright, WNYCS Studios Podcast

All kids make mistakes. But depending on your zip code, race, or just bad luck, those mistakes can have a lasting impact. Mass incarceration starts young. In Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, hear from kids about the moment they collided with law and order, and how it changed them forever.
Listen at wnycstudios.org
Podcast

Changing the Face of Foster Care, Children’s Bureau Podcast

A conversation about comprehensive change of foster care.

How can child welfare agencies, Federal partners, judicial and legal entities, and community organizations shift both the perception and application of foster care to one that supports families? Dr. Jerry Milner explains his support for systemic change across child welfare systems: where foster care is viewed as a last resort for families facing challenges in maintaining safe and stable homes for children and youth.

In this episode, Dr. Milner explains the Federal Government’s role in facilitating community-based collaboration to support families. The conversation also focuses on increasing awareness of the needs of children, youth, and families involved in foster care, along with the value of ensuring foster care is used as a support for families instead of a substitute for parents.

Topics discussed include the following:

 Changing the misconceptions regarding children, youth, and families impacted by foster care

 The importance of Title IV-E Reimbursement for legal services for parents, children, and youth

 How the Federal Government supports community-based prevention efforts

 The issues and trends State and local child welfare agencies are sharing with Dr. Milner

Episode 48: Changing the Face of Foster Care
Podcast

Paper Tigers

Follows the year in the life of a high school that has radically changed it's approach to disciplining its students, becoming a model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affects families.

Follows the year in the life of a high school that has radically changed it's approach to disciplining its students, becoming a model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affects families.

Available on Amazon
Movies/TV

What The Adoption Of One Kansas City Mother's Child Says About Race In The Child Welfare System

Samantha Mungai, an immigrant from Kenya, left her child alone while she went to work in July of 2017. This is the story of what participants in this case, and those who work in the system, say that parents who are Black, low income, or immigrants can face as they try to be reunited with their kids.
Listen at KCUR
Webinar

NSAW: Integrating Adolescent Brain Development Into Child Welfare Practice with Older Youth

The curriculum, Integrating Adolescent Brain Development into Child Welfare Practice with Older Youth, was created by NASW to train child welfare workers to incorporate this information into their practice. Social workers, as well as others who work in child welfare, parents and foster parents may find this information valuable. In addition, practitioners working with adolescents in behavioral health, health, juvenile justice and school settings may benefit from the information contained in the curriculum. Social work faculty may find the information provided useful to infuse into courses on child welfare practice, working with adolescents, and human behavior and the social environment, among other courses. The curriculum combines findings from brain science research and knowledge related to trauma, implicit bias, and building social capital to promote strategies for practitioners to more effectively work with older youth who experience the child welfare system.
View curriculum and resources at socialworkers.org
Other

What Colleges Need to Know About Cannabis

This presentation will review current science related to cannabis use, with an emphasis on findings relevant on college campuses. Lessons learned after legalization in Washington State is discussed, as will suggestions for prevention efforts.‍
Watch on YouTube
Webinar

Strengthening Your Families Webinars

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) in conjunction with their adoption advocacy partner, The Jockey Being Family Foundation, offers 600 FREE registrations to each Strengthening Your Family (SYF) Webinar with 10 webinars offered each year. These webinars focus on a variety of relevant topics for adoptive, foster and kinship parents as well as the professionals who serve them.
Find the current list here

Kansas Children's Service League's Upcoming Trainings

Trainings provided by the Kansas Children's Service League.
KCSL Trainings

Foster Village Lawrence

Learn more about Village Lawrence, a new non-profit supporting relative and foster homes in Lawrence and the surrounding communities
Youtube Video

What The Adoption Of One Kansas City Mother's Child Says About Race In The Child Welfare System

Samantha Mungai, an immigrant from Kenya, left her child alone while she went to work in July of 2017. This is the story of what participants in this case, and those who work in the system, say that parents who are Black, low income, or immigrants can face as they try to be reunited with their kids.
Listen at KCUR

Supporting Children, Staff, and School at Times of Crisis and Loss

Presented by Dr. David Schonfeld, MD. Supporting Children, Staff, and School at Times of Crisis and Loss. Crisis and loss are common in the lives of students, whether due to a crisis involving a student’s individual family or one that affects the entire school community. This webinar will help school professionals learn basic skills in how to talk with and support individual students or the entire class/school as they struggle to understand and cope with a crisis and loss in their lives.
Link to Webinar Recording & Handouts

What Colleges Need to Know About Cannabis

This presentation will review current science related to cannabis use, with an emphasis on findings relevant on college campuses. Lessons learned after legalization in Washington State is discussed, as will suggestions for prevention efforts.‍
Watch on YouTube

National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Webinars

A consistently updated list of upcoming webinars curated by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute on various topics in the realm of child welfare.
Find their calendar here

Suicide Prevention Trainings

The Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters offers multiple trainings and webinars to help equip people with suicide prevention information. Sign up for self-paced trainings or live webinars.
Find trainings here

Institute of Child Psychology Webinars

The Institute of Child Psychology was founded to educate parents and professionals on issues pertaining to children’s mental health, and to promote the psychological and emotional well-being of children and adolescents. You'll find the most current, relevant, evidence-based, and neurobiologically informed practices featured in their various webinars.
View Webinars here

Mindspring Mental Health Alliance Webinars

Mindspring provides free mental health education opportunities to the public through webinars on a wide variety of mental health topics. All webinars are free and open to the public. Webinars are recorded and emailed to all registrants. Certificates of attendance are administered to anyone who participates in the live webinar and completes the survey at the end.
Find webinars here

The Body Keeps the Score: Healing Trauma Through Somatics

A discussion with Bessel van der Kolk, MD and Peter A. Levine, PhD about the concepts included in van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps the Score."
Link to webinar recording

National CASA Webinars

National CASA has shared all their archived webinars from 2023. Find the list here, with links to connect you to the webinars.
Find the list here

2024 Annual Review with Judge Klepper & Danielle Packer

The Citizen Review Board and Douglas County CASA submitted questions for Judge Paul Klepper and panel attorney Danielle Packer to weigh in on.
Find it on YouTube here

Building Hope for Family Healing and Recovery

This webinar highlights concrete strategies collaborators can use to improve outcomes for families affected by substance use and mental health disorders.
Watch via NCSACW

ADHD and Complex Trauma

The Inattentive, Impulsive and Hyperactive Child: Is Childhood Trauma Buried Amongst ADHD?
Read online

2022 Criminal Justice Research Findings from the Vera Institute

The Vera Institute of Justice, an independent nonprofit national research and policy organization hired by Justice Matters, recently presented its research findings to the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission.
2022 Douglas County Jail Analysis

Reaching "Unreachable" Teens & Tweens

Kate Sample, MA, LPC, has spent most her clinical career as a therapist working with at-risk tweens and teens in residential, school, community, and private settings. A passionate advocate for ongoing professional development, she transitioned her skills to the continuing education world, where she’s developed treatment-focused trainings, conferences, and publications for PESI.
Psychotherapy Networker Article

It’s Time to Stop Confusing Poverty With Neglect

If we truly care about children and families, it's time to stop confusing poverty with neglect and devote ourselves to doing something about it.
Find at Children's Bureau Express

Throwaway Kids: Part 1: WE ARE SENDING MORE FOSTER KIDS TO PRISON THAN COLLEGE

The Kansas City Star has examined what happens to kids who age out of foster care and found that, by nearly every measure, states are failing in their role as parents to America’s most vulnerable children.
Read online at The Kansas City Star

Neurobiological Development in the Context of Childhood Trauma

Neurobiological systems may be particularly susceptible to deleterious impact of childhood trauma, and the impact of childhood trauma on development and subsequent functional outcomes across the lifespan has been well-documented. The current review addresses the neurobiological impact of exposure to interpersonal trauma in childhood in the context of executive function, emotion regulation, and dissociation/interoceptive awareness. Subsequent risk for PTSD and depression is also discussed. The pathway of risk from childhood trauma to these cognitive, emotional, and psychiatric outcomes is addressed in terms of potential structural and functional alterations within the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala resulting from chronic or repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its interaction with and influence on genetic and epigenetic processes during sensitive periods of development. Implications for practice are discussed.
Link to Article on NIH Website

SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (Paper/Article) - July 2014

The purpose of this paper is to develop a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and to develop a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups.
Link to PDF

Understanding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Child Welfare Practice Tips

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) developed this technical assistance tool for child welfare professionals who serve children and families affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and parental substance use disorders. It provides a broad overview of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), their effect on child development, and treatment for FASD.
Find the article here

Symposia: Torn Apart & Prosecuting Poverty (LPE Project)

The Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project brings together a network of scholars, practitioners, and students working to develop innovative intellectual, pedagogical, and political interventions to advance the study of political economy and law. "Symposia" discusses racial inequities within the child welfare system.
Find the articles here

Why Mandatory Reporting Doesn’t Keep Children Safe

Learn about the history of mandatory reporting and whether or not it helps reduce child abuse and neglect.
Find the article here

Are ACEs as Determinative as We Think?

From "Psychotherapy Networker", two trauma experts weigh in on connection, community and the tyranny of diagnosis.
Read here

However Kindly Intentioned: Structural Racism and CASA

Published by the City University of New York Law Review, this article explores CASA and systemic racism.
Read it here

Article Summary for "However Kindly Intentioned"

Summarized by a CASA stu, this explains the high points of the article entitled "However Kindly Intentioned: Structural Racism and CASA" .
Read it here

America’s boys and men are falling behind… mentoring can help

An excellent new article in the Wall Street Journal by Rachel Wolfe has drawn new attention to the struggles of boys and young men in the U.S. As Wolfe notes, in homes across America, a troubling trend is emerging. While data for young women are gradually improving, many of their male counterparts are struggling to find their footing. This disparity is reshaping the landscape of American youth and raising concerns about the future of an entire generation. It also has implications for mentoring programs.
Read here

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely proud people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream by Richard Antoine White

From the streets of Baltimore to the halls of the New Mexico Philharmonic, a musician shares his remarkable story in I'm Possible, an inspiring memoir of perseverance and possibility. Growing up, Richard Antoine White and his mother didn't have a key to a room or a house. Sometimes they had shelter, but they never had a place to call home. Still, they always had each other, and from a young age, Richard believed he could look after his mother, even as she struggled with alcoholism and would frequently disappear, sending Richard into loops of visiting familiar spots until he found her again. And he always did--until one night, when he almost dies searching for her in the snow, and is taken in by his adoptive grandparents.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

Mad Honey tells the story of two women who have fled abusive pasts to make a new life in the small town of Adams, New Hampshire. When one is found dead, and the other finds her son accused of the murder, the tense courtroom drama that unfolds shines light on the true cost of secrets kept for love.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

A pioneering researcher and one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children.The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Torn Apart by Dorothy Roberts

An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Kansas City's Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home by Margie Carr

Our own Margie Carr wrote Kansas City’s Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home, the extraordinary, century-old history of one city block whose residents shaped the changing status of Black people in Kansas City and built the social and economic institutions that supported the city’s Black community during the first half of the twentieth century. The CASA office also has a copy available for lending.
Buy Here

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The story of a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own past. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor

In We Got This Cornelius Minor describes how this conversation moved him toward realizing that listening to children is one of the most powerful things a teacher can do. By listening carefully, Cornelius discovered something that kids find themselves having to communicate far too often. That "my lessons were not, at all, linked to that student's reality."
Available on Amazon

Dopesick by Beth Macy

Chronicles America's more than twenty-year struggle with opioid addiction, from the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, through the spread of addiction in distressed communities in Central Appalachia, to the current national crisis.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

A Placed Called Home

A Place Called Home is both David's powerful personal account through the lens of a child surviving it daily. And as the go-to child welfare advocate for the Obama administration and major U.S. companies, A Place Called Home is a beckoning call to our national conscience to move from pity to action.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, and unexpected friendship. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

When Ree Dollys father skips bail, the 16-year-old knows if he doesn't show up, her family will lose their home. Her goal had been to leave her life of poverty and join the Army, but first she must find her father, teach her little brothers to fend for themselves, and escape a downward spiral of misery. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Walls has written a stunning and life-affirming memoir about surviving a willfully impoverished, eccentric, and severely misguided family. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

An inspiring true story of the tumultuous nine years Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent in the foster care system, and how she triumphed over painful memories and real-life horrors to ultimately find her own voice. Copies also available in the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

This memoir, which tells the story of Machado’s abusive relationship with another woman, is an act of personal and formal bravery. ‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Snyder

Snyder highlights an epidemic of unacknowledged violence. Fifty women a month are shot and killed by their partners, and she explores the problem from multiple perspectives: the victims, the aggressors and a society that turns a blind eye.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

In her unstinting memoir — a portrait of working-class poverty in America — Land scrapes by on $9 an hour cleaning houses to support herself and her young daughter. ‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

How To Be An Antiracist: A Memoir by Ibram X. Kendi

Despite the nature of its title, Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism.‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones

In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. ‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

A book-length letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, Samori. In it, Coates explains to Samori what it means to be a black man in America. ‍
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Details how federal housing policies in the 1940s and '50s mandated segregation and undermined the ability of black families to own homes and build wealth.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Age of Overwhelm: Strategies for the Long Haul by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Whether we are overwhelmed by work or school; our families or communities; caretaking for others or ourselves; or engagement in social justice, environmental advocacy, or civil service, just a few subtle shifts can help sustain us. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, bestselling author of Trauma Stewardship, shows us how by offering concrete strategies to help us mitigate harm, cultivate our ability to be decent and equitable, and act with integrity. The Age of Overwhelm aims to help ease our burden of overwhelm, restore our perspective, and give us strength to navigate what is yet to come.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

This book is written for anyone who is doing work with an intention to make the world more sustainable and hopeful—all in all, a better place—and who, through this work, is exposed to the hardship, pain, crisis, trauma, or suffering of other living beings or the planet itself. It is for those who notice that they are not the same people they once were, or are being told by their families, friends, colleagues, or pets that something is different about them. Also available at the CASA office.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Spirit of Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known — a legend in the NFL, MLB, NCAA, and in the Olympics. Today he is being celebrated by a new generation of Native Americans.
Listen here

Reveal Podcast: Cashing in on Troubled Teens

How the country’s biggest psychiatric hospital chain is profiting off kids trapped in a broken child welfare system.
Listen here

Getting Curious podcast: Who Does America's Child Welfare System Serve?

Each year, more than 250,000 children in America are removed from their families by judicial means—and more than 3.5 million children are investigated by child welfare agencies. Most of these children are Black, Indigenous, queer, disabled, and otherwise marginalized. And much of the tens of billions of dollars allotted each year to so-called “child welfare” is spent on separating families. This week’s guest Dorothy Roberts joins Jonathan to discuss how this system operates; who it most harms; and what it has to do with mass incarceration, police brutality, and centuries’ worth of inequities in this country.
Listen here

CASA on the Go Podcast

Provided by Texas CASA, this continuing education podcast connects CASA volunteers with engaging and relevant training designed to help strengthen advocacy for children and families. Each short, dynamic episode features informative discussions with subject matter experts exploring topics connected to child welfare and best practices for CASA advocacy. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) in their personal capacity and are not the official policy or position of Texas (or Douglas County) CASA.
CASA on the Go

IEP Meeting Tips for Kids of Color

Meant for parents but useful for educational advocates, this resource helps you understand how to advocate for a child of color in IEP meetings with tips about documentation, goal setting, and next steps.
Listen here

Addressing Poverty to Keep Families Together with Sarah Winograd

Sarah Winograd’s journey as a “professional volunteer” led to the realization that poverty was a driving factor in the child removals in the families she was working with. See how Sarah mobilized her community to address family poverty to help families stay together. Through the Together for Families program, Sarah lives out her vision of supporting families by helping them meet basic needs.
Seen Out Loud Podcast Episode Link

Kansas foster care providers working to address children's mental health needs

Amid a statewide mental health crisis, vulnerable children and teens in the state foster care system have been hard-hit by a scarcity of resources.
Article and Link Here

Opeeka Podcast

Opeeka believes the goal of using technology is to make life easier, more productive as well as increasing health & wellness. Opeeka’s mission is to keep the person in the center of care, which helps assist with equity and have an impact of the Social Determinants of Health. An important pillar of their work is to increase collaborations among systems. These podcasts can serve as a conduit for sharing knowledge, innovations and strengthening collaborative efforts worldwide.
Oopeka Podcast

What's Not on the Test: The Overlooked Factors That Determine Success

A look at why the lives of high school graduate and GED test takers' lives vary so drastically when their test scores are roughly equal.‍
Hidden Brain (NPR) Link

Anatomy of Doubt from "This American Life"

A story about doubt: how it germinated, spread, and eventually took hold of an entire community, with terrible consequences. A collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica. A story from "This American Life" from Feb 26, 2016 and about the story of a girl who was raped and not believed and the subject of the Neflix series "Unbelievable."‍
This American Life Podcast Link

Zipcode Destiny: The Persistent Power Of Place And Education

The stories we tell about ourselves — stories of success and stories of failure — often have their beginnings in the distant past. Sometimes, they start in our childhoods. Sometimes, before we were even born.This idea may sound poetic, but when it comes to economic mobility, there's evidence to back it up. Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard, is responsible for some of the most powerful evidence, drawing on data from many millions of Americans.Raj has found that early variables in your life, from the quality of your kindergarten teacher to the neighborhood you grew up in, can have lasting effects. And those effects often result in dramatically divergent outcomes in different parts of the country."People ask... is the American dream alive or not today? And I actually think the question itself is sort of ill-posed," Raj says. "The term 'the American Dream' --really we should think of it as 'the Iowa Dream' or 'the Atlanta Dream' or 'the California Dream' because there's so much variation within this country."Today we ask some questions that carry big implications: can you put an economic value on a great kindergarten teacher? How is it that two children living just a few blocks from each other can have radically different chances in life? What gives Salt Lake City an edge over Cleveland when it comes to offering people better prospects than their parents? The state of your American Dream, this week on Hidden Brain.
Hidden Brain (NPR) Link

Caught with Kai Wright, WNYCS Studios Podcast

All kids make mistakes. But depending on your zip code, race, or just bad luck, those mistakes can have a lasting impact. Mass incarceration starts young. In Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, hear from kids about the moment they collided with law and order, and how it changed them forever.
Listen at wnycstudios.org

Changing the Face of Foster Care, Children’s Bureau Podcast

A conversation about comprehensive change of foster care.
Episode 48: Changing the Face of Foster Care

Paper Tigers

Follows the year in the life of a high school that has radically changed it's approach to disciplining its students, becoming a model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affects families.
Available on Amazon

Congratulations, You're On Your Own: Life After Foster Care

Congratulations, You’re On Your Own: Life After Foster Care is feature-length documentary that follows young adults navigating life after foster care.
Watch the movie for free on PBS

Loving

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.
Watch on Netflix

Missing From Care: Preventing and Responding to Sex Trafficking of Youth

1in 6 of the children reported missing who had run away were likely child sex trafficking victims. This startling figure demonstrates the safety risks and vulnerability facing children who are leaving home or foster care placements. Hear from our presenter, Melissa Snow, to learn more about how we can work together to locate missing children, and how a trauma-informed and youth-centered recovery plan has the power to impact running behavior.
Watch online for free

Till

The true story of Mamie Till-Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally lynched in 1955 while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

The Glass Castle

A successful New York writer tries to reconcile her well-ordered life of privilege with her nomadic childhood ruled by a quixotic, unstable father. Also available to check out from Lawrence Public Library: https://lawrence.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S119C292590
Watch on Netflix

Winter's Bone

Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails to find him, she and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Brilliant attorney Woo Young-woo tackles challenges in the courtroom and beyond as a newbie at a top law firm and a woman on the autism spectrum.
Watch on Netflix

Dopesick

The story of how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. Look into the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of "one percenter" Big Pharma Manhattan.
Available on Hulu

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez

A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children.
Available on Netflix

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Oskar is convinced that his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a message for him hidden in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother and driven by an active mind that refuses to believe in things that can't be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father's closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his loss to a greater understanding of the world around him.
Available at Lawrence Public Library

Maid

After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future.
Available on Netflix

I Am Jazz

Although assigned male at birth, Jazz is a transgender female and has been living as a girl since kindergarten. Jazz's family has stood side-by-side with her as she's battled discrimination, hate speech, online bullying and more.
Watch for free online

Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom

The story of Juneteenth highlights how hope has endured from 1865 to today. In doing so, it paints an important picture of freedom and the redemptive suffering for the discouraged and hopeful, Black and White, skeptics and saints, and all of us.
Watch here

Will & Harper

When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.
Watch on Netflix

ADD/ADHD | What Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?

Here’s everything you need to know about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Thomas E. Brown, PhD, discusses ADHD diagnosis, ADHD symptoms, available ADHD treatment options, and ADHD medication. As our expert says, ADD/ADHD is not a behavior problem. It has far more to do with the brain’s management system. Remember, ADHD has nothing to do with how smart a person is.
Watch on YouTube

NSAW: Integrating Adolescent Brain Development Into Child Welfare Practice with Older Youth

The curriculum, Integrating Adolescent Brain Development into Child Welfare Practice with Older Youth, was created by NASW to train child welfare workers to incorporate this information into their practice. Social workers, as well as others who work in child welfare, parents and foster parents may find this information valuable. In addition, practitioners working with adolescents in behavioral health, health, juvenile justice and school settings may benefit from the information contained in the curriculum. Social work faculty may find the information provided useful to infuse into courses on child welfare practice, working with adolescents, and human behavior and the social environment, among other courses. The curriculum combines findings from brain science research and knowledge related to trauma, implicit bias, and building social capital to promote strategies for practitioners to more effectively work with older youth who experience the child welfare system.
View curriculum and resources at socialworkers.org

Continuing Education Requirements

  • Continuing Education FAQs
  • You need 12 hours per calendar year, which needs to include one CE on "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion."
  • Your hours will prorated for your first year based on your certification date.
  • Remember to record your hours in Optima or submit to your supervisor.

Questions?

  • Contact the Community Engagement Coordinator with resource questions
    Brooksie McCarty, [email protected]