FREE | Caregiver registration will be prioritized Training participants will gain understanding of the following:

• Normative social media use

• Benefits of social media use for teens

• How to be safe on social media sites and some of the dangers to look out for

• Social media site demonstrations: how they work and how to set privacy controls

To register, go to AspireMN.org and click “Register HERE” Social work CEUs and completion certificates will be provided for this training.

About the trainer: Professor Jodi Dworkin’s research and discovery focuses on risk-taking among adolescents and college students, promoting positive family development, and parenting adolescents and college students. Her work attempts a paradigm shift away from the historically negative model of youth risk-taking behaviors to a normative model of youth exploration, one that sees this behavior as functional, intentional and part of an active process of identity formation. A critical piece of her work is developing research-based outreach services to promote positive family development. She is the winner of the 2013 Council of Graduate Students Outstanding Faculty Award.

This training is being offered in partnership between the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, U of MN Family Social Science Department, the AspireMN Foster Care Committee, Quality Parenting Initiative-MN, and the Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s Institute to Transform Child Protection.

Parents and caregivers (i.e. foster parents, relatives) have been critical to the roots of Quality Parenting Initiative-Minnesota through their expertise and willingness to work together with other key stakeholders. This session’s panel is comprised of those individuals with lived experience and the workers who are supporting change to “business as usual” mentality in foster care. Research upholds that reunification efforts are improved and lower return to foster care occurs by the lasting connections developed with the child and families. This presentation will identify how strengthened communication and relationships between parent and caregivers is key to the child/youth’s time in out of home placement. Participants will learn how intentional shared leadership in identifying best practices has led to relevant and needed change in areas of the child welfare community.

3rd Annual Foster Child and Youth Day on the Hill

March 9, 2020

9:00 AM – Youth Summit at Capitol Ridge Hotel

1:30 PM – Rally in the Capitol Building Rotunda

Afternoon – Advocacy Visits with Representatives

• To register a young person click à https://www.fosterchildandyouthday.com/events/youth-summit-registration-1

• To register yourself à https://www.fosterchildandyouthday.com/events/supportive-adult-registration-1

• To register a meeting with your/youth’s lawmaker click à https://forms.gle/JnGiCv3FZX7CQ4r8A

Kinship Caregiver Conference and Resource Fair

Saturday, November 16, 2019
10:30-3:00pm

Center for Changing Lives
2400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN

Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota is hosting its free annual caregiver conference and resource fair. Learn about local resources and supports when you are parenting a child who is not your own. Registration required: www.lssmn.org/kinshipregistration

Anoka County Government Center

2100 3rd Avenue

Anoka, MN 55303

Description: Learn basic first aid skills needed to help youth or a young adult who is experiencing a mental health problem or crisis including suicide. Focus is given to recognizing the early warning signs of a mental health problem to full-blown suicidal ideation.

To sign up go to: https://ymhfa-anoka11-16.eventbrite.com

Join us to create change in the experience of foster youth, foster parents and birth and relative families.

11:00 - 12:00 Registration and Lunch

12:00 - 4:00 Stakeholder Information and Work Session

Contact sarntson@co.scott.mn.us for more info.

Curious about foster care? Already in the process or currently an adoptive or foster family? Looking for resources? We invite you to join us for a FREE informative and fun theatrical event featuring youth performers in Fidgety Fairy Tales. A variety of resource tables will provide information about becoming a foster parent, offer support and cover other topics of interest to adoptive, foster and kinship families. Games, activities and light refreshments will also be available.

About: May is National Foster Care Month and once again Connections to Independence (C2i) is kicking off the month with the 6th Annual "Friendraiser" Kentucky Derby Celebration: Run For the Roses on Saturday, May 4th! Come enjoy a Kentucky Derby Experience while giving back to a population of youth who are forgotten in our community; older youth in and aging out of the foster care system.

Come dressed in your favorite Kentucky Derby attire: enter the best dressed contest, enjoy wine tasting, poker tables, silent auction, cigar bar, and light bites and cocktails. All proceeds will benefit youth in and aging out of foster care and the services they receive from C2i.

We will be celebrating our community partners, honoring our C2i youth, and hearing from special invited guests during our program; which will start promptly at 4:00pm. You will be able to "bet" on your horse(s) of choice and we will watch the Derby to see who will earn a chance to win some great prize giveaways!

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/c2is-6th-annual-kentucky-derby-friendraiser-run-for-the-roses-tickets-53540094865?blm_aid=92077#

Tickets: $30-55

This year’s annual Mitchell Hamline Law Review Symposium, sponsored by the Minnesota Institute for Families, Children, and Communities, will feature discussions on how Minnesota is and is not addressing problems facing the state’s most vulnerable youth.

This event will provide a forum for critical reflection on the intersection of vulnerable youth and Minnesota’s legal systems and supports. Speakers will discuss some of the most pressing issues, including discrimination in the foster care system, the epidemic of youth homelessness, whether youth should be tried as adults in criminal proceedings, what happens to children when their caregivers are sentenced to jail or prison, and how attorneys can work with youth.

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig will deliver a keynote address to start the morning, followed by five panel discussions. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The event will conclude with a cocktail hour, sponsored by the law firm Fredrikson & Byron.

Questions about the event

Contact lukas.boehning @mitchellhamline.edu.

CLE Credits pending.

Parking

The main parking lot on the corner of Summit Ave and Victoria has a few event parking spots. If those are full,  there is an overflow parking lot at Grotto and Summit, about 2 blocks east of the law school on Summit Avenue. There is also street parking on Summit, Ashland, Portland, and Victoria, but please double check to make sure you do not need a permit for those locations. (Ashland is the best choice for no permits).