Current Events
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Jamaica Community Partnership Initiative (CPI) will have a Foster Care and Child Welfare Conference at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York on Tuesday, June 24th from 9 am to 4 pm. Forestdale, together with Allen AME, Jamaica Hospital, the Jamaica YMCA and the NYC Department of Education were founding members of the Jamaica CPI. The purpose of CPI is to provide neighborhood-based-services to fragile families in Southeast Queens, NY. and to strengthen the child welfare service delivery system.
Allen AME has championed foster parent recruitment by outreach to its congregation and training prospective parents in foster care. Indeed, it has expanded its foster care ministry to include recruitment, training and support counseling; providing an outstanding complement of services to nurture those who want to open their hearts and homes to children who have entered the child welfare system. Thus far, the Jamaica CPI has trained seventeen new foster parents and a new class began in May 2008 to add more foster families. Reverends Helen and Andre Broady, who lead the Allen AME Foster Care Ministry are also Forestdale foster parents and they conduct recruitment, training and counseling for CPI.
The conference is a one-day event to acquaint faith organizations in Queens with foster parenting and child welfare issues. Our objective is to herald the importance of foster parenting and the leadership of Allen AME in embracing foster parent recruitment and child welfare as social justice issues. We want more residents in the borough to understand the public policy implications of child welfare; and at the same time, we want to encourage other religious institutions to adopt foster care as a ministry. We want the faith-based community to know its participation and support is essential to achieving cultural competency for foster children as their organizations most often reflect the ethnic fabric of the neighborhoods in which they reside. Religious institutions are key to motivating local residents to add value to the child welfare system by individual action. While not everyone can be a foster parent, they can have other roles to support foster children. Respite care and grand parenting, in particular, are other forms of participation that we want to explore in the conference proceedings through workshops. Also, residents can participate in family team conferencing. There are a myriad of opportunities we can identify through the collective wisdom of a conference.
The goals of the conference are:
- Advance learning about the imperatives of child welfare in Queens as a public policy issue that is important to communities of color.
- Encourage more religious institutions to have foster care ministries.
- Change the demographic profile of foster parents to include more middle class families.
- Launch a movement focused on foster care as a social and economic justice issue.
First Annual Fatherhood Barbeque
Forestdale hosted its First Annual Fatherhood Barbeque on August 27, 2007. Over eighty fathers attended the event with their children, other family members and significant others. This special day featured amusement park activities that included water slides and carousel rides, specialty donuts made on site, and outdoor field games such as badminton, volleyball and basketball. The event was an excellent start to a summer weekend, which occurred from 4 pm to 11 pm.
Under the stars, families watched The Pursuit of Happiness, a Will Smith film, which was a unique opportunity for friends and family to share time together. Many believe it is one of the best movies made in Hollywood about fathering. The movie was truly a family affair for all to watch.
In the spirit of the Fatherhood Initiative (appreciating our differences and celebrating our willingness to help others), a potluck buffet dinner was served in which the cultural diversity of Queens was evident with families providing dishes from Bangladesh, Korea, and Brazil, as well as from Caribbean and Eastern European countries. Barbequed chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers were also part of this All-American barbeque.
As is the customary practice, those fathers who have contributed to the Fatherhood Initiative through peer mentoring and administrative support were recognized for their dedication to the program. In addition, individuals who distinguished themselves with outstanding personal growth and parenting abilities were awarded gifts for their achievements.
Congratulations on a job well done to our staff ---Scott, Warren and Victor!
Million Father March
Our Fatherhood Initiative staff participated in the Million Father March on September 4th, 2007. This march is to support fathers and encourage them to take their children to school. Research shows that children whose fathers take an active role in their educational lives earn better grades, get better test scores, enjoy school more and are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. Additionally, children have fewer behavior problems when fathers listen and talk with them regularly and are active in their lives. A good father is part of a good parent team and is critical to creating a strong family structure. Strong family structures produce children who are more academically proficient, socially developed and self-assured.
National Fatherhood Initiative in Atlanta, GA
Fathers, even those who do not live with their families, are vitally important to the well-being of children. This was the message of a major conference in Atlanta, Georgia from June 14-17 convened by the National Fatherhood Initiative to address emerging trends among fatherhood programs across the country. Forestdale's Fatherhood Initiative team members were in attendance, along with representatives of government and fatherhood practitioners of national and grass roots organizations, all there to network with and learn from each other.
Each of our team members found the conference energizing and inspiring. Scott Leach, Director of our Fatherhood Initiative noted the recent trend among fatherhood programs to promote the benefits of healthy marriages, mirroring a national "Healthy Marriages Initiative" launched by the Department of Health and Human Services. Warren Abney, our Fathering Specialist, said his experience made him realize how well Forestdale's fatherhood effort measures up to similar programs. Victor Fredericksen related his personal experience coaching an 18-year-old father, brought to the conference by his own father, to learn how to become a better dad.
Since 1998, Forestdale's Fatherhood Initiative has helped non-custodial fathers in Queens to connect with and support their children financially. Participants share their life experiences and support one another in their efforts to get their lives on track, deepen their connections with their child and maintain healthy relationships with their child's mother. We were honored in June to receive both a first-time and renewed grant from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development. Beginning in September Forestdale will now serve younger fathers, in addition to our ongoing older fathers program. With this dual-track approach, our staff will tailor the program, in response to the different life experiences and needs of these fathers.
Congratulations to Forestdale’s Class of 2007!
We are thrilled and proud to announce that seven of Forestdale’s seniors will be graduating from high school in June and have been accepted to the colleges of their choice.
We interviewed two students, Jane and Anne (not real names), to find out how they felt about achieving this important milestone, what they wanted to do professionally after graduating from college and whether they had any advice to offer to other youth at Forestdale. Here are their inspiring stories.
Jane: I’ve always loved learning and reading. It’s important for me to go to college, because no one in my family has ever graduated from high school before. I always knew I wanted to make something of myself. The more problems I faced, the more I pushed myself to do more. A lot of my friends are the complete opposite of me. They hang around the neighborhood and pick up all the negative stuff. But they have never tried to change me or make fun of me because I study. I try to tell my friends that education is the most important thing. You can lose money and friends along the way, but no matter what else happens to you in your life, no one can take your education away from you. I’d like to help other people in trouble when I graduate from college. I want to thank my foster mom, because she always keeps me up and encourages me to do better.
Anna: I am blessed with a good family, both my foster and birth families -- who gave me the strength to persevere. I felt I owed it to them as well as to myself to succeed in school. I didn’t want to get an associate’s degree, so I studied hard to get into a four-year college. My foster mother is very strict and gave me the discipline to keep on top. It was tough, but I want to thank her. I tell my friends that, without a good education, life is hard. I heard that even MacDonald’s requires an associate’s degree to work there these days. I would like to be a physical therapist after I graduate from college. Because I play and love basketball, I’d like to specialize in helping athletes. I’d like to thank Yasmeen Garrick, Andres Gomez and my social worker, Janelle Morris, who helped me with my problems and always listened to me with open ears.
From Russia With Love
When nine-year-old Nina was on the plane from Russia to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport last month, she was practicing her English the entire flight for her first meeting with her new foster parents, Ryan and Lori Johnson.
The couple, who currently live in Briarwood, agreed to become foster parents to Nina, helping pave the way for officials to bring her back to the United States.
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2007/01/25/news/cover_story/news01.txt
The Hip Hop Project
17 Youth were invited to attend a screening of the documentary film The Hip Hop Project produced by Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah. This screening was presented by VH-1 Hip Hop Honors. This event took place at the Brooklyn Museum. Youth were invited to attend this event to expose them to the positive side of hip hop music. It is important that they know there is another side of hip-hop that does not include guns, violence, and murder.
The Hip Hop Project is the compelling story of a young man named Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager who inspires a group of New York City teens to transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery. In contrast to all the negative attention focused on hip-hop, this is a story of hope healing and the realization of dreams. Through this documentary youth saw how Kazi turned his negative situation into a positive one. After the movie, Kazi and his group performed one of their songs. Kazi also stayed to answer questions the youth had about his experience.