Jeremy Maclin Gives Back to Adopted Kids

Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and running back LeSean McCoy. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)

SHAMUS CLANCY, Daily News Staff Writer clancys@phillynews.com

Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 3:01 AM

 A TORN ACL during training camp that forced Jeremy Maclin to miss the entire 2013 season was nothing compared with the hardships Maclin faced earlier in life.  Growing up in Kirkwood, Miss., in a fatherless household, Maclin increasingly spent time in the home of his youth football coach Jeff Parres and his wife Cindy.

Maclin found himself living full time with the Parres family during his sophomore year of high school and beyond. Today, Maclin has a renewed relationship with his biological mother, Cleo, but growing up, the Parres family provided Maclin with a nurturing environment that fostered his future football achievements.

Maclin overcame the trials of his younger years - and also his ACL injury, with a career-high 980 receiving yards so far this season. Now Maclin is helping children and teenagers do the same through his work with the National Adoption Center, a Philadelphia-based organization founded in 1972 that has helped more than 23,000 kids in foster care find new homes.

Read more at HERE.

Help Meet Foster Care Needs in Your Community

Current Needs in Elgin's Foster Care Community

Show JESUS to the one who feels forgotten  HELP MEET A NEED! Last Month in Review  October 2014 Judson University students served The Forgotten Initiative and Safe Families by cleaning and organizing the local donation closet.     Current Needs  Be an advocate for those who don't have a voice.   Help spread the word of current needs with your church, friends and family! No matter how small, YOU can play a part in bringing joy and purpose to the foster care community.   SERVICE PROJECTS - 0-6 month & 6-12 month Journey Bags - Gently Used Clothing CHRISTMAS SPONSORSHIPS - Will you sponsor a child in foster care this Christmas? Email madison.flack@student.judsonu.edu with questions! Follow the link to the Elgin Facebook Page to see children's wish lists. MENTORING - MENTORS NEEDED for foster youth ages 8-15. Please pray about this opportunity. You can be the one to show an individual affected by foster care that they matter!   If you would like to learn more, read here. FAMILIES SERVING FAMILIES - SUPPORT TEAM NEEDED for foster family in Elburn, IL. - Learn more about Families Serving Families. OTHER WAYS TO SERVE - Join the work God is doing in the Elgin area and become a TFI Elgin Team Member. You are valuable to our team! - First Response Coordinator: for more information email tfi.elgin@gmail.com

China Adoption Webinar

Interested in learning more about China Adoptions?

Please take a few minutes and check out this informational webinar from Bethany Christian Services to learn more about adopting a child from China.

View Webinar

 

 

www.Bethany.org/Chicago  

 

National Adoption Month: Resources from Focus on the Family

	You Are Making A Difference                       Did you know Focus on the Family has helped more than 2,700 families initiate the process of adoption from foster care? This impressive milestone wouldn't be possible without the prayers and support of our ministry friends like you!     •  Learn more about fostering hope in your community. •  W.R.A.P.™ around adoptive families in your community.

Fostering Hope

100,000.
That's the projected number of children in the U.S., who are currently in foster care waiting for a forever family. These children often wait an average of four years to be adopted. That's if they don't "age" out of the system before then.
Yet, this is where the Christian community can bring much-needed—and tangible—hope for children and youth in crisis situations.

National Adoption Month

At Focus on the Family®, we believe in God's Word, which declares the inherent value of every life—in all ages and stages—and the profound benefits both the child and society receive when children are united with forever families.
That's why we work tirelessly to:

• Restore the hope of orphaned children and youth
• Raise awareness of the need for adoptive families
• Provide resources and support throughout the adoption process

In fact, did you know Focus on the Family has helped more than 2,700 families initiate the process of adoption from foster care? And we'd love to do more.

Thanks to Focus on the Family's Wait No More® outreach, the urgent need for adoptive parents is being highlighted through one-day events, which bring together adoption agencies, church leaders and ministry partners from local communities. From education, to starting the adoption journey, to training church members in how to come along side adoptive families in loving ways, Focus on the Family can help Christians navigate this important subject.

Please help us spread the word! Join us on our new Facebook® page, Facebook.com/ThrivingValues or contact us at ThrivingValues@Focus.org.

It's true that we can't help the circumstances we're born into and some of us start out in a much tougher place than other people. But just because we started there doesn't mean we have to end there.—Michael Oher, professional football player whose compelling story inspired, The Blind Side.

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in a home ... —Psalm 68:5-6

Adoption-Friendly Workplace Winners

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption celebrate companies with the best adoption benefits for their employees. Every year, they compile a list of the top 100 adoption-friendly workplaces – the best small, medium, and large employers.

 

Employers and benchmarks:

They recognize all adoption-friendly employers by posting a complete list of every employer who has completed our adoption benefits survey. They also provide benchmarks, with the company’s permission, about specific adoption benefits offered by employers of a specified size, state or industry. Learn more about employers and benchmarks.

Click here to view the 2014 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace winners
2014 Leaders by industry
2014 Leaders by size
2014 Leaders in Ohio
2014 100 Best press release

Adoption-Friendly Workplace works to make adoption an affordable option for every working parent. The goal is to provide companies with the support needed to provide adoption benefits to employees and recognize the forward-thinking employers that already have adoption benefits in place.

What you need to complete the survey:

• Contact information
• Employer information
• Adoption benefits policy information
• Tax ID (optional)

Please follow this link to apply for the 2015 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces List.

Adoption-Friendly Workplace kit:

Make your office an Adoption-Friendly Workplace with our toolkit that helps you propose an adoption benefits policy to your employer.

Learn more about free Adoption-Friendly Workplace kits.

 

New Book for Foster and Adoptive Families

Ready or Not: 30-Day Discovery for Families Growing Through Foster Care and Adoption by Pam Parish helps families considering foster care or adoption to prepare for the journey, especially in terms of one’s own expectations and motives.

Christian Alliance For Orphan’s David Hennessey wrote in endorsement, “This is one of the best resources I’ve found to count the costs of adopting and fostering, while at the same time creating a supportive team to hold each other up throughout their journeys. Each week, the probing questions lead to deep discussions and honest reflection, calling each of us to consider what unconditional love truly looks like in action. Thank you so much for providing this valuable resource to families considering fostering and adoption!”

TBRI Workshop for Adoptive & Foster Parents

 

 

Trust-Based Relational Intervention®(TBRI®): Correcting Principle

Workshop Ideal for Adoptive Parents or Prospective Adoptive Parents

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Holt Sunny Ridge Children's Services

270 Remington Blvd., Suite C

Bolingbrook, IL 60440

 

Holt-Sunny Ridge Children's Services and The University of Chicago Adoption Center are excited to announce the fourth of four workshops on Trust Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), presented by Pam Shepard, LCSW, and Linda Walsh, NP.

Are you looking for parenting strategies to help you address your child's trauma history?

Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), is an emerging intervention model developed by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross (authors of the popular book "The Connected Child") at the TCU Institute of Child Development.

 

The fourth workshop in this series will focus on the TBRI ® principle, "Correcting." 

Goals for this workshop include: 

• laying the foundation for understanding how to balance structure and nurture during interactions with children, 
• enhancing understanding of the TBRI ® IDEAL Response © and Levels of Response ™, 
• and to communicate that after behavioral episodes children should feel content and connected to their caregiver and have changed behavior

Workshop fee: $35 per person, including workbook; 30 people maximum.

 

CEU's for LSW/LCSW for additional $10; forms for foster family DCFS self-submission training credits available; no child care provided. 

 

Register by Tuesday, December 2, 2014; no refunds for participant cancellation; 

lunch: preorder or bring your own. 

 

REGISTER HERE

 For more information about TBRI visit www.child.tcu.edu.

For workshop questions contact Pam Shepard, LCSW at pams@holtsunnyridge.org or call (630) 754-4522.

Safe Families for Children Host Family Training Day

 

 

Safe Families for Children and Willow Creek North Shore Present:

The Greater Chicago Host Family Training Day

Saturday, November 15, 2014

 

Prospective Safe Families, you're invited to a live, accelerated Comprehensive Training Session. 

 

Offered as an alternative to online training, this event is designed to equip you to welcome a child into your home and move you through the training process efficiently. The live Comprehensive Training Session includes everything you need to become a certified Safe Family—all in one place. 

• Start or submit your application
• Get fingerprints taken for the background check
• Complete your training hours
• Meet like-minded families who will support you

REGISTER HERE

 

Doors open at 8:30 AM for those who need to start an application, schedule a home study, start a background check, or ask one-on-one questions.  Training session begins at 9:00 AM sharp.

A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. There will also be a variety of special giveaways throughout the training session you won't want to miss!

Free Parking is available.  The training will be held in the Chapel.

The training session will be presented by Tom Maluga and Joyce Moffitt.  Tom is the Director of Safe Families for Children Chicago since the ministry's inception in 2002 and holds two Masters degrees. Joyce is the Area Coordinator for Lake County and a Master Trainer for DCFS.  Both are devoted to helping urban families find God’s healing and redeeming grace.

Reserve your spot today! We look forward to seeing you on November 15th to equip and encourage you in your journey.

If you have further questions please contact Sarah Mohr, 773-653-2222, or smohr@safefamilies.net

Have questions about Live Host Family Training Day - Willow Creek North Shore? Contact Safe Families for Children

Tapestry Adoption Books & Resources

November is National Adoption Month. 

 

Check out the deals from Tapestry Books, a great source for adoption books and resources! 

 

www.tapestrybooks.com

CAFO Webinar: Quality Care

 

* WEBINAR *

Quality Care: Making Sure We Make a Difference for Children.

This webinar will demonstrate that evidence-based standards of care and ongoing attention to monitoring and quality improvement can enhance your organization’s ability to support children and families. Participatory rights-based approaches will be emphasized, and participants will be given the tools for self-assessment and improvement. Applying QI principles will promote the agency and voice of the child in an age-appropriate way, and can motivate care providers, program leaders, and donors to challenge themselves to think of new ways to serve children, their kin, and their communities.

 

Presenters: Prof. Lori DiPrete Brown, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Meredith Wesley

 

Date: Wednesday, November 19          Time: 2:00pm (Central)

 

REGISTER

Emerging Leaders Scholarships for Child Welfare Workers

 

 

ANNOUNCING: JOINT COUNCIL'S EMERGING LEADERS SCHOLARSHIP 2015

Joint Council is pleased to announce our second annual Emerging Leaders Scholarship. The scholarship provides financial support for five (5) emerging leaders working in the child welfare field to attend our 2015 child welfare conference, Putting Family First: Family Strengthening to Adoption, in Arlington, VA from June 22 - 24, 2015. More information about the conference can be found here. Each scholarship covers the registration costs for all three days of the conference, travel to/from the conference and lodging for three nights.  Scholarship recipients will be responsible for expenses including, but not limited to, meals (those not provided at the conference) and incidentals.     The scholarships are awarded to emerging leaders who best meet the following criteria (please note you need not meet all of the criteria to apply): NGO and/or nonprofit staff members with more than one and less than five years of experience working in child welfare and are affiliated with a nonprofit organization that has an annual budget of less than $3 million. Students seeking their undergrad or post-graduate work in social work, international social work, child welfare, leadership, and other relevant fields; U.S. or foreign government officials responsible for child welfare issues in some way with more than one and less than five years of experience working in child welfare, but whom have demonstrated leadership on issues of child welfare. Have demonstrated leadership ability and potential for growth within their organization and/or the child welfare community. Will enrich the diversity of the sector. Diversity includes but is not limited to age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, geography, and disability.  Special consideration is given to those who are nationals from low and middle-income countries. Would not otherwise be able to attend the 2015 Conference. Application process: Click here for the application form.  Please note that in addition to the application, the following must be attached: -          A current resume -          A recommendation from a supervisor, faculty/advisor, peer, or board member who can describe your leadership qualities and potential for continued impact (250 word limit).  Please ask him/her to provide contact information.    Please submit the above by December 1, 2014 at midnight EST to Marie Blum Capizzi at marie.bc@jointcouncil.org.  Please include "Emerging Leaders Scholarship Application" in the subject line of the email.    Our thanks to our generous sponsors, including the Dave Thomas Foundation for their support of this program.

About Us: Joint Council on International Children's Services helps orphaned and vulnerable children live in a permanent and safe family by advocating on their behalf, marshaling the resources they need, educating those who serve them and mobilizing those who care. See more information about our organization here.

Questions? Contact Marie Blum Capizzi via email at marie.bc@jointcouncil.org