Archives for April 2015

Become a Foster Parent

Being a Foster Parent

According to most recent data, there are currently more than 500,000 children in the United States who are somewhere in the foster care system. The unfortunate reality is that there simply are not enough families for all of them. While some find success and happiness in foster homes, the majority spend their youth in and out of different homes and authorities say that up to 60% will never leave the foster care system before they become adults, and approximately one in four who “age out” of the foster care system will experience some level of homelessness as an adult.

What Are the Requirements for Being a Foster Parent?

The qualifications can vary from agency to agency and from state to state, but most agencies require:

  • That you be at least 21 years of age. Many agencies will allow foster parenting by older individuals, including people in their 50s and 60s.
  • You must be healthy enough to care for a child, and there may be additional health requirements if the child is younger and needs more attention.
  • You must have adequate space in your home, including a bedroom for the child. There is no requirement that the child have his or her own bedroom, but agencies typically discourage having a child share a room with more than one other child, unless the room is sizeable.
  • You must be able to financially provide for the child, as well as your existing family
  • Your spouse (if you are married) must also want to be a foster parent
  • Agencies typically have an application process and require a home study

Agencies generally do not require that a foster parent be married or be of the same ethnic, religious or racial background as the child. A foster parent can own his or her home or may rent, and there’s no requirement that you currently have children or have been a parent in the past.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

The Food Justice Program

The Children’s Aid Society’s Food Justice Program

The Children's Aid Society's Food Justice ProgramThe Children’s Aid Society (CAS), a New York City institution for more than 160 years, operates a “Food Justice ” program, working with children and youth in poverty in the city to educate them about the disparity in access to affordable and healthy food by children in New York City, and to provide them with opportunities to address and remediate that disparity.

In a comprehensive and interactive program, volunteers from CAS work with children in poverty across the city, systematically taking them through a wide range of classes that address basic issues about food and food justice. Among the classroom topics are:

  • An identification of food justice—what does it mean and how do we achieve it?
  • The components of a healthy diet
  • The differences between factory farmed and humanely farmed animals
  • An examination of diabetes, including its relationship to diet
  • The impact of marketing and labeling on food choices

With every lesson, participants learn to make their own food, from beef stew, salsa and veggie pita pizza to chicken avocado sandwiches and muffins. Students also learn how they can become advocates for food justice throughout the city, and participate in projects to help increase awareness of food issues. Students in the class recently produced a rap video entitled “Veggies in the Kitchen.”

The Children’s Aid Society targets children in poverty, providing comprehensive support structures to children and their families in high-need neighborhoods throughout New York City. Founded in 1853, CAS initially focused its efforts on the needs of homeless children in the city, creating the Orphan Train Movement that many consider the genesis of the modern foster care system.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

Arizona Establishes Cabinet-Level Child Safety and Family Services Division

Arizona Creates Cabinet-Level Division to Monitor and Enforce Child Safety and Family Services

Arizona Establishes Cabinet-Level Child Safety and Family Services DivisionIn 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed the precedent set by 10 other state chief executives, disbanding the state’s child protective services, seeking to replace it with an independent agency that would report directly to the governor’s office. Governor Brewer used an executive order to abolish the existing child protective services, and temporarily created a cabinet-level division, known as the Division of Child Safety and Family Services.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledged that Arizona’s system for protecting children was woefully inadequate. Reports had surfaced that the former agency had a backlog of more than 6,500 child abuse and neglect reports that had not been investigated. Calling the Arizona child welfare system “broken” and “impeded by years of structural and operational failures,” Brewer named the current director of the Department of Juvenile Corrections, Charles Flanagan, to serve as head of the cabinet-level agency.

Brewer made it clear, however, that she did not want this to be the end of the restructuring. She asked lawmakers to consider legislation that would create a standalone agency focusing on providing aid and assistance to families in distress, as well as children who are victims of abuse or neglect.
Governor Brewer issued her executive order in January, 2014, and met with legislators in March to discuss efforts to put a new Department of Child Safety in place. She has also asked the Arizona legislature to appropriate $128 million to fund the agency for a four-year period.

Contact Adoption Attorneys Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005.

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