About Our Kids
http://www.aboutourkids.org
This organization deals with kids issues of all types

Positive Parenting
http://www.cwla.org/positiveparenting
This organization deals with parenting issues

Kids Health
http://www.kidshealth.org
This organization deals with childrens health issues of all ages

Baltimore County Public library Teen Info Center
http://www.bcplonline.org/info/teen
This is the Baltimore County Library's Teen Info Center

Resources regarding Adoption
http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoptionguide.php
The Adoptive Families Website

Other Resources

http://www.vera.org/project/project1_1.asp?section_id=6&project_id=3
When kids in foster care are arrested, often no one shows up, and the court sends these children to a juvenile detention center. The result is a bias against foster children in decisions about detention and costly overcrowding in juvenile jails. Follow this link for information about the Vera Institute of Justice's Project Confirm and for their report, "Reducing the Foster Care Bias in Juvenile Detention Decision: The Impact of Project Confirm."

http://www.caseylifeskills.org
Ready, Set, Fly! A Parent's Guide to Teaching Life Skills is a powerful tool from Casey Family Programs that caregivers can use to help teach life skills. Its popularity is expanding, as it was recently adopted by the states of Texas and Louisiana to be distributed to all foster parents. The state of Missouri recently developed training for foster parents on how to use Ready, Set, Fly! It is available at no cost at the above link.

www.parentsjournal.com/
The Parents' Journal is a weekly radio program with segments about child development, parenting issues, discipline, and the like. It is broadcast locally on WAMU (88.5 FM) on Saturdays from 6-7 am. You can also go to the show's website to download streaming audio of the show. In addition, there are links to high-quality parenting websites.


Frontline: Failure to Protect

This Frontline report examines the death of a five year old girl while in foster care in Maine. Her foster parent was a Maine DHS caseworker who was found guilty of manslaughter and is serving 20 years in prison. Materials available at the site include history, caseworker interviews, interviews with national experts, discussion on child welfare policy, resources, readings, and links. Includes a section on ASFA (Adoption and Safe Families Act - 1997)
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fostercare/

www.yoursocialworker.com
Articles from Your Social Worker. Gary Direnfeld is a social worker who provides articles on parenting and custody issues on his website. Many of his articles have relevance for foster and adoptive parents and kinship caregivers.

www.villagevoice.com/news/0344,gonnerman,48199,1.html
Losing Joshua. A feature article from the Village VOICE about a 17-year-old's suicide. Joshua had been diagnosed with ADHD when very young and re-diagnosed as bi-polar four months before his death. He suffered from severe chronic depression. This article is a very thorough treatment of a complex and difficult subject.

http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/training/
The Washington State On-Line Foster Parent Class. This is the same great material used in the Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services' foster parent classes.


http://www.medem.com/medlb/medlib_entry.cfm
Medem's award-winning Medical Library represents the full range of patient education information from trusted sources with a breadth and depth of health care information.


http://store.health.org/catalog/top.aspx
US Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information.

http://www.focusas.com/
Focus Adolescent Services is an internet clearinghouse of information and resources to help and support families with troubled and at-risk teens. This group works to provide information and resources to empower individuals to help their teens and heal their families.

www.yourmedicalsource.com
This unique site offers you comprehensive, reliable, up-to-date health information.

http://www.cwla.org/programs/juvenilejustice/jjdnewsletter.htm
Child Welfare League of America - Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Newlsetter. "The Link" is a newsletter that connects child welfare and juvenile justice issues.

http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=237483
Child Trends, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child health Research with support from the Commonwealth Fund has published this valuable resource on early child development and child health. The Socioemotional Development section, for instance, includes sections on social competence, behavioral self-control, and ADHD. The Community/Neighborhood Factors section includes information on poverty and neighborhood safety. Fine resource for those in the early childhood field. Be aware this publication is over 100 pages in length. It is Pdf file.

http://www.youthcomm.org/Publications/FCYU.htm
Represent A magazine with a mission to help foster youth across the country stand up, be counted, and be heard. For teens, we hope it will send you on your way to planning your future, negotiating the present, and making your voice and experiences known. For staff, we hope this is a tool you can use to better understand what teens are going through and offer them the training they need to succeed. The magazine is written by a core writing staff of 15 youngsters in a Manhattan office, but accepts and receives submissions from throughout the country.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/afcars/report9.htm
National Resource Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention Fact Sheets
This web page provides numerous child welfare fact sheets that are available for download.

Adoption LawSite

http://www.adoptionlawsite.org
This is intended as a single online resource where prospective adoptive parents, biological parents, adoption and child welfare lawyers, juvenile and family court judges and child advocates can use to locate child welfare and adoption law information. The site is a free service of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy.

www.forumfyi.org
The Forum for Youth Investment (the Forum) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping communities and the nation make sure all young people are Ready by 21™ - ready for college, work and life. This goal requires that young people have the supports, opportunities and services needed to prosper and contribute where they live, learn, work, play and make a difference. The Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the information, technical assistance, training, network support and partnership opportunities needed to increase the quality and quantity of youth investment and youth involvement.

http://www.cwresource.org
The National Child Welfare Resource Enter for Family-Centered Practice, a service of the Children's Bureau. This biannual bulletin of the Resource Center provides information on current topics important to the child welfare field. Each issue focuses on a particular topic in the area of family-centered practice.

The Child Trends DataBank

http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org
Welcome to the one-stop-shop for the latest national trends and research on over 90 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month! Provided by Child Trends, a national leader in the field for over 20 years. Also provides link to CrossCurrents Data Briefs, a new series of data briefs from the Child Trends DataBank. These briefs draw from multiple indicators to examine broad topics and special populations of greatest concern to policy makers, service providers, the media, and the general public.


www.thetruth.com
An in-your-face anti-smoking website with style designed for kids and teens. Features Q&A, downloadable posters, and games.


http://www.nationalcasa.org/JudgesPage/index.htm
Sponsored by The National CASA Association and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, The Judges' Page, is an online newsletter published three times annually by NCJFCJ and CASA. The articles are short, snappy and to the point.

http://www.casanet.org/library/index.htm
The National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association mission is to speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children who are involved in the juvenile courts. This link will take you to their Advocates' Library.

LINK Families:

http://www.nysccc.org/linkfamily/linkmain.htm
Linking Information Networks for Kids
A New York State Citizen's Coalition for Children, Inc. Program Iniative

The NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children and the Syracuse Salvation Army of Syracuse are working together to establish a network of knowledgeable foster/adoptive parents to serve as supportive resources to other families. This website offers many links to important child welfare topics.

http://www.edjj.org/Publications/
This link is to the publications section of the National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice and a substantial list of publications that will be of value to anyone who stands at the nexus of these fields.

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-schedule-fourpages.pdf
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this information in a four-page pdf file that includes a special schedule for children who start late or are more than one month behind.

Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule:

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-schedule-fourpages.pdf
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this information in a four-page pdf file that includes a special schedule for children who start late or are more than one month behind.

The Voices and Faces Project
http://www.voicesandfaces.org/rape.asp
A special web site for rape victims intended "to give a voice and a face to survivors of sexual violence, offering a sense of solidarity and possibility to those who have lived through abuse, while raising awareness of how sexual violence impacts victims, families and communities."


Connect for Kids
http://www.connectforkids.org/
Connect for Kids makes the best use of communications technologies, specifically the Internet, to give adults - parents, grandparents, guardians, educators, advocates, policymakers, elected officials and others - the tools and information they need to improve the lives of children, youth and families. The Connect for Kids online publication covers more than 30 topics ranging from arts to youth development, foster care to adoption, and welfare reform to oral health.