I just got this email from Youth Communications, about their new magazine, Rise. It is published three times a year and includes stories by parents in preventive services, dealing with an investigation, or with children in foster care. Youth Communication has published articles by parents in its foster care magazine,
Represent, for years, but this is the first publication just for parents of children in care.
NY1 ran a segment on Rise on May 15th, and you can view the video and read more about it
here. The NY1 story features Rosita Pagan, Sylvia Perez, Violet Rittenhour, Philneia Timmons -- all parent advocates trained by the
Child Welfare Organizing Project, a parent advocacy group, and participant in the Youth Communication parent writing workshop.You may download your free copies of
Rise here. If you’d like to join the writing staff, call or
email Nora McCarthy at (212) 279-0708 x113.
Rise magazine was also featured on the front page of
Connect for Kids recently. A story from their third issue was reprinted on the website, titled "Voices from the other side of foster care". Here is an excerpt from Philneia Timmons’ story:
"[My son] was getting in trouble just about every day in school...I was running to the school so often that I had to quit my job. I felt so frustrated, I didn't know what to do.
"Eventually I started to hit him, even though I don't believe in hitting kids. One night I hit him with a belt because his teacher had called to say he had cursed in class. He screamed so loud when I hit him that I stopped, but the damage was already done. The next day the school informed me that they had found bruises on my son's body. ACS came that night."
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Connect for Kids is an online publication with one of the largest readerships among child welfare staff in the country.
Youth Communication's mission statement: "Youth Communication helps teenagers develop their skills in reading, writing, thinking, and reflection, so they can acquire the information they need to make thoughtful choices about their lives." They are based in New York City.