I get many different electronic newsletters, from many different sources. Check them out and sign up for what looks interesting to you. They are:

Evan B. Donaldson Institute Adoption Newsletter

Bazelon Mental Health Policy Reporter

National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice & Permanency Planning

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Children’s Bureau Express

The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare

The Center for Family Connections


Too darn bad I don’t have time to read all of them. I have them each slotted to go into a file in my Outlook folder. If I’m not totally crazy when they bounce into my Inbox, I skim them to see what they offer. Usually I’m juggling a hundred things already and they go on the back burner, often never to be viewed at all.


In addition to those publications, I am on several other listserves, including a list for adoption professionals and an adoption-in-the-media listserve. I rarely get to check all that stuff out either. Usually it is because I am involved in the practice of child mental health, rather than the policy … usually it is because I am actively speaking to a parent or emailing a parent or writing an article for the newsletter for a parent or whatever.


Part of my vision for ATN involves changing policy. We can’t fight this battle one parent at a time—we need to collectively raise our voices and affect public policy change. At the point in time that I can free up some time to do that, I’d like to change things on a statewide or national level.


The problem, however, goes back to what I wrote in this post. We are truly fighting an “orphan cause” on so many fronts because folks don’t understand what we are living and even if they somewhat get it, we are not a cause that creates warm and fuzzy feelings. Who wants to address the issue of kids who kill or kids who smear feces or kids who seem perfectly normal but who are tearing previously healthy families apart? (Since they seem normal to the outside observers, the problem must not be the kid, it is clearly us ... so we certainly can't find any HELP for the problem!)


I had a comment from a reader this morning about my post on hedging your bet against abuse allegations. This family’s story was like so many others … the charming kid who convinces everyone around them that they are being abused. How can a family who has one of those kids possibly avoid scrutiny and condemnation? And how can we get anyone who doesn’t live with that kid 24/7 to understand what an act that child’s demeanor really is? My daughter didn’t even have to try and act that way—her poor, pitiful demeanor that reflected her own view of her life and the world radiated from her every pore. Since no one in their right mind could conceive that an individual would choose to stay in that state, outsiders immediately assume it must be something the family is doing.


I have months of back issues of those newsletters on my desktop, and I will endeavor to plow my way through them and bring you the latest and greatest news … but will there be an article in any one of those publications that will help you get through the next ten minutes with your kid(s)?

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