A December to Remember

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In December 2022, more than 100 foster youth in CII’s Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP) celebrated the holidays with friends, mentors and chosen family at our Otis Booth campus in Echo Park. Guests enjoyed a holiday meal, music, plenty of games, prizes and photo ops.

This was the first time in over three years that CII’s foster youth program was able to celebrate the holidays in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial limitations. This celebration truly would not have been possible without the generous support of our donors and greater LA community partners. A special shoutout to DJ Lani Love for providing the tunes, Donny Joubert BBQ and Desserts by Donisha for the delicious food, and to sisters, Alex and Tiffany Tuttle, for ensuring that every youth went home with a gift.

CII’s ITSP supports transition aged (16-21) foster youth in preparing for a fulfilling adult life outside the foster system by providing mentorship, life skills classes, and educational supports that work towards high school and college graduation.

We still need your help to ensure that youth have the resources they need to achieve educational success and emotional wellbeing, which build pathways to economic mobility. Please consider making a gift to Children’s Institute and make the future brighter for youth across our city.

 

July is National Minority Mental Health Month, but What Does That Really Mean?

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The Department of Health and Human Services officially recognizes this month as a time to bring awareness to the stigma and barriers racial and ethnic minorities face in accessing and utilizing mental health services. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) states that while most minority groups have similar or fewer mental disorders than whites, “the consequences of mental illness in minorities may be long lasting.” This is due to a lack of access to primary healthcare, insurance, and mental health education. Additionally, racial minority groups are often treated with cultural insensitivity by healthcare and mental health professionals. According to the APA, many patients in minority groups are underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and factors that contribute to this include “language differences between patient and provider, stigma of mental illness among minority groups, and cultural presentation of symptoms.”

Our mental health and wellness providers at CII are acutely aware of these issues, which is why a culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approach is the foundation of their work. We asked a few of our staff why specifically recognizing minority mental health is crucial. Here’s what they shared:

“Mental health in our communities is still a hard thing to sell, especially in lower income communities. Our communities have a hard time trusting systems, and this has created a barrier. Breaking down this barrier has been an amazing process for me, specifically.”

– Jessie E Gonzalez. Clinical Supervisor

“It is important to recognize minority mental health, because mental illness does not have a specific race/ethnicity, and it can affect anyone regardless of their race. However, not everyone is able to get the support needed due to mental health being stigmatized in many minority groups. It is very important that mental illness gets treated in all minority groups.”

– Elizabeth Magana, Child and Family Specialist

“I feel that it’s important because I am aware that racial and sexual minority groups experience higher levels of anxiety and other challenges.”

– Anna Maria Guerra, Therapist

“In mental health particularly, it is important to provide the services necessary to restore trust and mend what has been broken by systems that have marginalized, exploited, and forgotten communities of color for centuries.”

-Karen Luna Gonzalez, Therapist

“Recognizing minority mental health is very important as it helps our community become better in a sense that people can learn to be more understanding and help reach those that need assistance but may not have the resources.”

– Ashley Ramirez, Intensive Care Coordinator

“Coming from a Latino family and community, mental health is considered a myth. Therapists and medication are for ‘crazy people’ or ‘the weak minded’. It’s important to educate our communities and let them know that it is okay to speak about trauma. It is okay to seek help without having to fear what people will think of you or how they will perceive you. It took me a while to be able to seek help myself, because I did not want my family to see me as a ‘weak’ person. I’m thankful that I was able to connect with a therapist of my own and also educate my family on the importance of mental health to break the stigma.”

– Sofia Manzo, Parent Partner

The Office of Minority Health has put together an abundance of resources for anyone looking to seek care or learn more about how to advocate for minority mental health equity. For an extensive list of information on coping with stress, trauma, violence, substance use, diagnoses, and treatment, head to: National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month — Resources and Publications (hhs.gov)

If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of self-harm, harm to others, or any other mental health crisis, call or text 988 to get connected to a free crisis counselor.

Julio Cruz is Passionate About Youth Success

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In early March amidst growing concerns about COVID-19, many colleges closed campus housing and told students to return home. For many foster youth attending college, campus housing is their only home. Leaving college put them at risk of homelessness.

Julio Cruz saw this crisis as another opportunity to advocate for foster youth. Cruz is the program supervisor for CII’s Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP), which supports transition aged foster youth with academic and employment resources, as well as life skills for a successful transition into adulthood. When colleges told students to leave, Cruz and his staff stepped in to assert the legal rights of foster youth, which enabled those students to stay safely in campus housing.

Among CII’s values (Passion, Innovation, Partnership and Equity), passion is important in every role, but Cruz believes it is essential to anyone working in ITSP.  In order to serve this population, Cruz says you have to bring a level of devotion to prove to young people that you’re there for them long-term.

CII supports kids in foster care

Without the backing of passionate supporters, youth aging out of the foster system have struggled with high rates of school dropout and unemployment. In Los Angeles, 38% of foster youth will become homeless within the first 18 months of exiting care. Cruz knows these grim statistics all too well, and since joining the program in 2014, he’s worked hard to ensure youth avoid these outcomes and become successful.

“The commitment of our staff to these youth is what empowers them to change and grow,” Cruz said.

When a young person enters the program, he or she is typically behind in school or struggling in some other aspect of life. ITSP staff guide them through the transition into adulthood by serving as a combination of counselor, role model and life coach.

For Cruz and his team, this can mean driving a youth to a DMV appointment, working through college applications or shopping for work clothes. ITSP staff are always there to answer the phone and talk through whatever issues a youth is facing.

Besides helping youth on college campuses, ITSP staff have provided additional supports to foster youth impacted by COVID-19. Cruz said his team has been working to ensure youth have access to food, money and tools to stay safe and healthy during the crisis.

Foster care support

Evelyn Medina, who has worked alongside Cruz as an ITSP Supervisor, said regardless of the challenge, Cruz’s passion for ITSP always leads to him finding solutions. He regularly inspires team members and youth to reach their goals.

“He has a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude,” Medina said. “He’s always looking for ways to improve ITSP, and I admire him for that.”

Cruz believes his efforts pay off in the program’s results. Each year the team holds the Dream BIG Graduation celebrating ITSP youth who are finishing high school and enrolling in college. Typically, only 50% of foster youth will graduate from high school and only 13% will go onto college. In 2019, CII’s ITSP youth boasted a graduation rate of 94% with each student planning to attend some form of higher education.

While Cruz loves working with young people aging out of foster care, he is now transitioning into a new role in CII’s Prevention & Aftercare Program. Cruz is starting this new opportunity as the Prevention & Aftercare Supervisor where he will support family strengthening initiatives designed to limit child and family involvement in the foster care system. Though he is changing programs, Cruz’s passion for the work and supporting youth isn’t going anywhere.

Hang in There

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This article originally appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Fostering Families Today and is reposted with permission.

At age 14, I had been working at a restaurant for a few months when I decided I was going to commit suicide by going into the restroom during my shift and taking an entire bottle of pills. When I finished swallowing all the pills, I continued bussing tables until I felt an urge to tell my manager what I had done. He called 911, and I was hospitalized for over a week. I was sure I had lost my job, which I enjoyed, but to my surprise, when I called the restaurant, he told me to get better so I could come back to work.

That job became a stable part of my life, which was often chaotic, with family conflicts, me struggling with my identity, and eventually my parents moving across the country and me living with my grandmother. I worked there until I went to college. I think the stability of that job, and the bond I formed with my coworkers and the manager gave me a sense of belonging, and helped me survive those drama-filled years. I am still in touch with the restaurant owner, who became like a mentor, and am grateful for the second chance and support I was given.

That and other experiences, led me to want to be a therapist so I could help others, similar to how I had been helped. My first internship was in a group home, where I saw many teenagers age out of the system with no permanent home or stability. While I started out thinking I could help through therapy, I quickly learned that these kids were extremely resilient, but due to different circumstances, were unable to find permanency through adoption or reunification.

When I was 26, a juvenile justice ­involved youth I was mentoring through a program called Girls and Gangs was struggling with homelessness, and ended up moving in with me. At age 27 I went through the process to become a foster parent through Los Angeles County, and have had anywhere from two to four youth living with me at any given time since then. I also continue to work as a clinical supervisor for a nonprofit that focuses on the mental health needs of kids who have experienced trauma.

As a foster parent, sometimes it can feel that we are battling every system to help these youth get a fair shot. Not only are we working with the youth’s behaviors and trauma history, but also school concerns, legal issues, court dates, visitations and general bureaucracy. At times it can seem overwhelming. I think the hardest time for me was when I gave a seven-day notice (when a foster parent asks a social worker to move a child from their home and move them to another home) on a child because I felt like I could not manage her behavior and keep her safe. I felt like I had failed her, since I always wanted to be there unconditionally.

While at the time I felt like giving a seven-day notice was the best route, that child’s behaviors became more dangerous after leaving, and she went to three more placements after my home, with her finally landing in a short-term residential treatment program, where she continues to work on transitioning to a lower level of care like a foster home.

Children with challenging behaviors and backgrounds can be difficult to parent, but if somehow you can ride the wave of whatever is causing the most drama at the time, things do get better. Kids naturally start improving when they feel a sense of stability and security, and they will test limits for several different reasons. They might prefer to feel in control, and like they got themselves removed from a placement, rather than being moved without knowing when or why. They also might have experienced so much trauma that they are still in fight or fight mode, which might have been adaptive at one time, but now is causing them to react aggressively to perceived threats that are not current dangers. They might be adjusting to a new area, culture and rules while struggling with learning what is expected of them. It is important to figure out the underlying need behind their behaviors, and to be as nonjudgmental and consistent as possible.

While the classes to become a foster parent did help prepare me, I think what helped me more were the experiences I had interfacing with the mental health system in my childhood. My experience in the child mental health system included seven hospitalizations, having psychiatrists continuously changing my medication, resulting in me having been on 10 different medications at different points, the many switches of therapists, and the times I felt understood and safe, compared to the times I felt frustrated and crazy. What I came to learn is that someone does not need a degree to help a child succeed, but someone who is able to help that youth feel accepted and like they are worth something, like the manager of the restaurant I worked at, can help youth far more than any professional. All of these experiences, the good and the bad, prepared me for the challenges that come with being a foster parent.

The first youth who moved in with me almost four years ago went through many struggles. We wrote many behavior contracts with expectations, but she is still living here, working, and in college, and she is proud of herself for “beating the statistics.” The youngest child who ever moved in with me was 9 and also struggled with hospitalizations, similar to mine, but with a lot of support and effort, she is still in my home. She is now 12, more stable, and I am in the process of adopting her.

Every youth who has ever entered my home has had at least four previous placements, but some as many as 10. It’s no wonder that it is difficult to trust, difficult to adjust, and that challenging behaviors surface. A quote that stays with me, by Father Greg Boyle is, “Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.” This applies to more than just poverty, but also to trauma. If there is a way to stay there with a youth, and somehow manage to preserve their placement, that will help them more than any tutoring or therapy service.

As a young, single, lesbian, working, foster parent with my own history of mental health issues, I am not a typical foster parent. However, different youth in the system do better with different types of families, and there is no one-size-fits-all foster home. As foster parents we must try to figure out what works for the kids in our home, and for us, and to try and find peace that will help the child stay as long as they need to. If a situation with a child becomes challenged and a child must leave your home, it’s important to try to keep the relationship open. Their past relationships are everything, so whether it be prior placements, or biological family, try your best to keep that contact open, which will help them adjust and improve their self-esteem in the long run.

Never underestimate your impact on a child’s life, or the work that you are doing to improve outcomes, as a foster parent. Whether you find out your impact soon, in the long run, or you never do, just know how much any amount of stability and unconditional care can change the trajectory of a child. Even when it gets tough, seek support, hang in there, and hopefully the situation will improve over time.

Vicky Garafola, LCSW, is an LA County resource parent. Garafola graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology and sociology. She earned a Masters in Social Work from USC, and currently works as a clinical supervisor at Children’s Institute. She lives in Compton with her family and is looking forward to finalizing her first adoption and also continuing to be there with her kids on their journeys.

Children’s Institute’s Top Moments of 2018

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This month, we took a moment to pause and look back at a few highlights from Children’s Institute this past year. In 2018, we adopted an ambitious strategic plan that will double the number of children and families we serve over the next 10 years. As part of this strategic plan, we spent last year expanding services focused on supporting children and families facing adversity across Los Angeles. This included launching a new initiative in Watts supporting children and families exposed to gun violence. We also looked for ways to bring new experiences to kids in our programs like attending a theatre performance, camping or building their first bike.

Like previous years, our successes in 2018 were powered by the strong support of our greater LA community. Events were supported, attended and hosted by amazing volunteers and in-kind items were donated by local CII friends and businesses. The donors who fund crucial CII services continued to support our organization with a record number of gifts. We ended the year on a high note by raising almost $1 million at our inaugural Cape & Gown Gala on November 14 when we honored child advocates Beth & Bob Lowe along with Frank, Berta and Sam Gehry.

We’ve already started working to make an even bigger impact in 2019, and we’ll keep you updated along the way.

Supplied for Success

We celebrated our four year-old Head Start graduates with a back-to-school event ensuring a successful transition to kindergarten. The children received backpacks filled with school supplies provided by Age of Learning.

“It has always been our goal to achieve school readiness for our children and their families. The backpack donation ensures our children starting kindergarten have all the essentials,” says Justine Lawrence, Vice President of Head Start, CII.

The Healing Power of the Arts

Youth from our Individualized Transitional Skills Program  and Santee Education Complex were treated to a performance of Daniel Beaty’s “emergency” at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The one-man show featured poetry, music and humor as Beaty played an array of characters coping with the effects of trauma. Read more about the event.

Supporting Children Exposed to Gun Violence

We launched a new initiative in partnership with the LA City Attorney’s Office and LAPD to support children in Watts who have been exposed to gun violence. The REACH TEAM ensures children and families in Watts receive appropriate and timely crisis intervention and support services through Children’s Institute and partner organizations. Read more about the partnership.

Gears for Kids

Our annual Gears for Kids event went off without a hitch thanks to our partners at Haworth.  Partners from 24 major design firms built bikes with kids from our Power-Up after-school program. Each kid got to take their bike home at the end of the day. In-N-Out Burger sent a food truck keeping our kids and volunteers energized.

Happy Campers

We held our 8th annual Camp Booth retreat at Booth Ranches in Fresno where kids got to spend time in nature and build camaraderie. Youth got to see a movie under the stars, interact with horses and make s’mores. Camp Booth was hosted by former board member and longtime supporter Loren Booth.

UCLA Career Day Opens Horizons for Youth

Our Power Up after-school program youth joined us for our first College & Career Day. The event was hosted by the UCLA Latino Alumni Association. Kids created resumes and figured out the skills they will need to make their dream jobs a reality. UCLA students and alumni also spoke to the kids about their unique college and career paths.

Cape & Gown Gala Raises $1.3 million for Services

Children’s Institute welcomed 400 guests to the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica to honor Beth & Bob Lowe and Frank, Berta and Sam Gehry at the first ever Cape & Gown Gala. The event raised close to $1 million for Children’s Institute’s programs. Read more about this successful event.

Early Head Start Expands to Compton

CII opened its first Early Head Start Program in Compton. Serving 140 infants and toddlers, the program provides crucial services to set kids up for future success. To celebrate the grand opening, CII invited kids, families and community members to an event with food and music.

A New Home in Long Beach

The day after we celebrated the new Compton Early Head Start, CII headed further south to celebrate the grand opening of our Long Beach center. The award-winning 20,000 square foot hub was designed by DSH // architecture.

Winter Family Festival Spreads Holiday Cheer

In December, we hosted our annual Winter Family Festival. The event opened our Otis Booth Campus to more than 2,500 children and families. The day included special holiday moments for kids including storytelling, arts and crafts and cupcake decorating. There was also an obstacle course and lots of giveaways for children and families who take part in CII’s programs.

Working as a Team

More than 30 CII staff members finished up the year by completing in the rigorous LASpartan Race. With several stunning displays of teamwork, the group pushed the limits as they climbed over barriers and swung through rope courses to finish as a team. Those who compete in Spartan races demonstrate a camaraderie towards other participants, embrace the challenge of the unknown and set out to prove they can accomplish difficult things. Mission accomplished.

Want to learn more about CII?

Read our 2018 Annual Report and Impact Report.

Make a difference in the lives of children and families exposed to adversity and poverty by making an end-of-year donation this holiday season.

 

Dr. Todd Sosna Named Chief Program Officer at Children’s Institute

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We’re pleased to announce that Todd Sosna, Ph.D. has been named Children’s Institute’s Chief Program Officer effective today.

In this new role, Dr. Sosna will lead all Early Education, Behavioral Health, Family Strengthening and Community Innovations programs for the agency, overseeing a budget of more than $70 million and a staff of 800.

Dr. Sosna has served as Interim Senior Vice President of Clinical Services at Children’s Institute since April 2018 and held the role of Senior VP for Program Evaluation and Improvement from 2012 to 2014.

“Over the past eight months, Dr. Sosna has demonstrated strong leadership, collaboration and accountability, and has fostered strong morale throughout the reorganization of our clinical and community programs. We currently have the unique opportunity to unify our broad array of services to achieve lasting impact for the children and families we serve, and I am confident Dr. Sosna is the best suited candidate for this crucial role,” said Martine Singer, President & CEO, Children’s Institute.

“As Chief Program Officer, I look forward to strengthening CII’s position as a leader in child trauma, behavioral health and early education, and deepening partnerships with other community-based organizations, funders and policymakers,” said Dr. Sosna, Chief Program Officer, Children’s Institute.

Dr. Sosna’s prior positions have included Senior VP of Operations for Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, Deputy Director for the California Institute for Mental Health and Assistant Director for Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services. He is known for developing Santa Barbara County’s nationally recognized multi-agency Integrated Children’s System of Care, advancing California’s large scale dissemination of evidence-based practices, leading child welfare and juvenile justice reforms, and establishing early childhood mental health programs in partnership with Head Start agencies.

Dr. Sosna earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from Washington State University in 1991, and is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

What Are Children Telling Us?

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It’s National Mental Health Awareness month, and I keep thinking about Antoine because I may have broken his heart.

Years ago I volunteered at a residential treatment center for foster children, in a cottage that housed ten young boys. They were “seriously emotionally disturbed,” the threshold classification for placement in that center. Most had survived multiple foster homes, sometimes punctuated by stays in psych hospitals, only to become “unplaceable” and almost certainly unadoptable.

During my weekly visits, some boys avoided me while others checked out the Pokémon cards or Legos I brought, only to wander off within minutes, endlessly distracted. But Antoine, 11, always sat by me, rapt and loyal. He built plastic cities, or painted his arms in Wonder bread polka dots, or listened to Harry Potter by the hour. Clever, powerful and entirely winning, Antoine had a monk-like focus, even when all hell broke loose in the cottage. He particularly loved an oversized book on the Titanic; we imagined life on every deck, the sound of the ocean, the smells of the boiler room (but never the ending). Antoine and I hung out in a corner of the common room every Tuesday, week after week. In that chaotic place, it was one thing we both could count on.

And then one day he wasn’t there: he had to spend the day in court. Before this third birthday he’d been taken from the custody of his grandmother because she extinguished cigarettes on his body and sexually abused him, but I didn’t know anything about his current status.

Meanwhile, emboldened by Antoine’s absence, 9-year old Shawn grabbed the Titanic book, sat with me for a while and soon lost interest.

The following week Antoine was back, but he refused to speak to me. I asked him why, I joked, I begged, and then gave up. The next week, same thing: wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t answer, wouldn’t touch anything I left behind for the boys to use. I asked his counselor what was going on, but he was calming a crying boy, inconsolable after losing a basketball game. I finally got Antoine’s attention long enough to apologize for sharing the Titanic book with another kid, but he never, ever spoke to me again. By April, he was gone, transferred to another group home.

What became of that extraordinary child, so keen, so persistent? His stubborn silence told me he was nothing like the other boys, that he was proud, vigilant, in control. Perhaps by sharing my time and his book with the other boy I had betrayed him, like so many others with whom he’d felt just a little bit safe. Who knows how many adults broke him, even after his physical scars healed.

How do children communicate their pain? And are we listening?

One out of five children has a diagnosable mental disorder, and it’s estimated that 80 percent of foster children have significant mental health issues. Quiet kids like Antoine may not advertise their trauma history with antisocial behavior, but former foster youth in general are five times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the general population, and even exceed the rate for American war veterans.

The effects of trauma, especially complex and repeated trauma experienced by so many young people in foster care, are varied: dissociation, depression, anger and anxiety. Children may lack self-regulation and appear to overreact or underreact. Chronic stress affects cognition and executive functioning, and is a predictor for long-term physical health, as well as substance abuse and other suffering.

In celebration of National Mental Health Awareness month, let’s listen to children, without judgment, and remember how many are exposed to violence, in their homes and in their streets and schools. They are longing to trust, no matter what they say or do.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has excellent information and resources. To commemorate national Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s mend hearts, not break them.

 

This article was originally posted to The Huffington Post on 5/15/2017