Flint-based foster care organization connects community agencies during Saginaw symposium - MLive.com

SAGINAW TWP, MI— Neglect and poverty are not the same thing, according to Ennis Center for Children and Families and Children Together Founder Bob Ennis, who led a symposium on caring for children in the foster care system Friday, April 21, at Saginaw Township's Horizons Conference Center.

The five-hour symposium gave representatives from FACT, a Flint-based operation, the chance to present plans to reduce the number of children in foster care and how to provide care for them or their families before their situation gets to a point where foster care is needed.

FACT CEO Bridgitt McCaughey was one of those representatives at the gathering, who said the mission of the organization is to empower children and families while providing a community-based system of care and prevention that bring coordinated support to families.

"We're pulling together all different community organizations for a common cause- that's to provide services and support to our children and families," McCaughey said. "By bringing together these groups of professionals from different walks of life, different organizations that provide educational services and child welfare services and things like that, we're able to understand one another and collaborate better to move forward with community-based care initiatives."

Leaders from Saginaw County participating at the symposium include Saginaw Mayor Brenda Moore, MDHHS Children's Services Administration Senior Deputy Director Demetrius Starling and State Representative Amos O'Neal among a roster of other community partners.

Ennis shared the challenging issue of caring for both children in the foster system and those who need help before they're forced to enter the availability of not just resources, but connected resources.

"We're trying to pull the community together to hopefully revolutionize the child welfare system," Ennis said. "We think it's failing. I mean it. We're not throwing rocks at anyone by saying that. It's just a matter of systems that aren't connected, there are so many services out there we can improve upon."

A good place to begin connecting community resources, according to Ennis, is the care of children and families living in poverty. He said that a majority of cases he has seen in the foster system or the child welfare system have been less of a result of abuse and more-so poverty.

"You also have so many people who are coming into care who are poor," Ennis said. "People often mistake poverty for neglect. People don't know that neglect is 87 percent of the kids coming in to care. Abuse, comparatively, is very small.

He added that FACT is trying to connect local agencies in both Genesee and Saginaw counties with parents and individuals who have been served or need to be served by the child welfare system to help build a better base for those in the future to start.

"We know we have to have more resources," said Ennis. "None of us can do it on our own, but, together, together we can do a pretty good job. We need to respect these families and what they need."

For more information on FACT and the Ennis Center for Children, visit their respective websites and social media pages.

For additional information on the symposium and future FACT events, contact Sheery Houston at 810-964-4428 or sheery.houston@enniscenter.org.

More from MLive:

Late Tony's restaurant founder, retired Saginaw educator to be honored at autism awareness gala

Memorial Cup to be held in a Michigan city for first time in 104-year history

Handley Elementary students raise more than $30K during Walk-a-Thon

Michigan's Best Local Eats: Roma's Family Restaurant has a cheesy, savory 'golden' favorite

Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy to host medieval-themed Dragon's À Faire fundraiser gala

Adblock test (Why?)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worm discovered living in woman's brain in world's first case: 'It's alive!' - New York Post

Image
Your nightmare this evening comes to you from Australia, where a woman kept returning to the hospital for a range of symptoms — until doctors found a worm living in her brain. Since 2021, doctors had been treating the 64-year-old woman with steroids and other drugs for pneumonia, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dry cough, fever and night sweats. By 2022, she was also showing signs of depression and forgetfulness, so doctors ordered an MRI scan of her brain, which revealed abnormalities that led doctors to recommend surgery. "But the neurosurgeon certainly didn't go in there thinking they would find a wriggling worm," Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious disease specialist in Canberra, told the Guardian. Senanayake was brought into the medical drama when one of the surgeons called him and said, "Oh my God, you wouldn't believe what I just found in this lady's brain — and it's alive." Docto...
Read more

Social Worker Shortage Looms If Field Keeps Relying on Unpaid Student Labor - Truthout

Image
Anyone who has ever interacted with New York City's vast social welfare system has probably come into contact with a social work student. For those who haven't, it might come as a surprise that much of the case management, housing stabilization, crisis intervention and counseling services for people who are low-income, criminal legal system-involved, experiencing homelessness, or disabled, taking place at social service agencies across the city is performed by first- and second-year unpaid master of social work interns. The Council of Social Work Education (CSWE), the accrediting body for social work education in the United States, requires students to complete 900 practicum hours toward a master of social work degree. While experiential learning is critical to students' education, social work internships are also a product of budget cuts and labor shortages within the social service sector and often fill essential agency functions. This is despite the Fair Labor Standard...
Read more