Blog
“Making Great Strides Outside the Pool: How Competitive Swimming Improved My Son’s Wellbeing”
By Abdul Seraaj Edited by Shay Stinson and Intisar Seraaj "On September 16, 2019, I was asked to give a parental testimony in front of the Montgomery (Alabama) YMCA Metro Board of Directors about how swimming has impacted the life of my son Rasheed Seraaj. I’d like to...
May is National Foster Care Month
May is National Foster Care Month and we honor the dedicated foster parents that step up to help children and youth in need of safety and stability.
Using Legos to Build Confidence in Kids
Dear parents, I’m not sure your bare feet in the middle of the night will thank me for this information but; buy more legos! That’s right. As it turns out, they are just what our kiddos need to fine-tune some things. We’re researching ways to get children more...
SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder & How to Support Youth in Foster Care
The winter months introduce a change in weather, sleep patterns, and emotions that hit some of us pretty hard and may cause an increase in thoughts or feelings of depression. Seasonal depression affects people of all ages and from all walks of life. "Suicide is the...
The Importance of Enhanced Experiences for Foster Children
We can rarely change the situations that lead children into care. But we can do a lot to affect the life they will have after foster care by improving the quality of life they have while in foster care.
The Importance of Understanding Sleep Hygiene for Foster Parents
The basic concept of sleep hygiene applies to everyone, but what sleep hygiene looks like for everyone can vary. Test different adjustments to find out what helps you sleep the best.
Recruiting Good Foster Parents: A Reminder from Dr. Richard Crow
Recruiting Foster Parents As a child-placing agency, the search for quality foster parents never ends. The need for quality homes for children that are experiencing foster care is increasing every year due to various circumstances. Although we wish this statistic...
The Healing Effect of Grandma’s House: Fighting Trauma With Love
When your only weapon to fight trauma and stigma is love, you fight hard and become a pretty intuitive warrior. We experienced this love at The Grandma Home House Retreat on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at our annual fellowship for National Foster Care Month. Love is the...
Corporal Punishment vs. Discipline
As an agency that works with youth with traumatic and abusive pasts, we train our foster parents in the proper ways to discipline children. As April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we’re here to discuss this further.
Parental Self-Care
Parents are notoriously guilty of losing themselves in the role of parenting, in the act of constantly putting others before themselves. We honor all parents who are taking care of the ones they love. Because parents are the ultimate caretakers, they might be the least aware of when they’re approaching burnout. It’s easy to get caught up in the routines and schedules of your little ones—even the lives of your adult children. But when we practice self-care, we’re improving the care we’re able to give others and increasing our genuine joy in doing so.