Links

Links to Other Organizations*

*Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine , "AFFM" assumes no responsibility for contents provided by "linked sites" or any damage caused by your use of "linked sites."

• 211 Maine - Have you ever wondered how to find a community service when you or someone you know needs help? Do you know where to turn when you want to reach out and help by volunteering or donating? In times of disaster or emergency, do you know where to go to receive updates and emergency bulletins?
• A Family for Me (AFFMe) - AFamily For Me is Maine's statewide recruitment initiative for foster and adoptive families. Our staff provides help, support and information.
• A Little Sunshine - A resources center for all Foster/Adoptive Homes. Everything is for free.
• Adoption Week E-zine - Join thousands of people by subscribing to the Adoption Week E-zine Each week you will be informed of new developments in the adoption world, as well as special deals and other tidbits of information you might find useful.
• BeAFoster Parent.com - Building Bridges + Fostering Futures.
• Casey Family Services - Helping children, families, and communities grow stronger together.
• Child Welfare Training Institute (CWTI) - The mission of the Child Welfare Training Institute (CWTI) is to enhance the professional development and organizational effectiveness of state and community child welfare providers and caregivers in order to improve the quality of services delivered to the children and families of Maine.
• The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) - The oldest and largest national nonprofit organization developing and promoting policies and programs to protect America' children and strengthen America's families.
• Children's Defense Fund - The mission of the Children's Defense fund is to leave no child behind and ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
• Developing Empathy with Grammy - This workshop is designed to help participants get in touch with their feelings regarding relative placements. The hope is to dispel the myth that "the apple does not fall far from the tree." The workshop will assist participants in an understanding of the important role relatives can play in the lives of children who cannot live with their biological parents. The presenter will also share ways foster and adoptive parents can help to involve biological family members in the children's lives.
• FASD Center - The FASD Center is a Federal initiative devoted to preventing and treating FASD.
• Foster Care Month - Every day, there are 518,000 children and youth living in foster care because their own parents can't take care of them. We must address the needs of these children, who need a stable and secure home until they can either return to their parents or establish a lifelong connection to a nurturing adult.
• Generations United - Generations United is the only national membership organization in the United States focusing solely intergenerational programs, policies, and strategies with over 100 member organizations representing more than 70 million Americans. GU houses the National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children and our mission is to improve the quality of life of grandparents and other-relative caregivers and the children they are raising by addressing the unique needs of each generation. The National Center provides technical assistance and training to service providers and professionals across the country, and educates policymakers on the importance of adopting intergenerational public policies and programs related to kinship care.
• Home Counselors Inc. - Home Counselors Inc. is a private, nonprofit agency designed to provide an array of Family centered services helping young people and their families living in mid-coast Maine. HCI also offers learning opportunities to prepare professionals to deliver effective family based counseling services.
• KidsPeace - With one of the highest success rates in the nation, KidsPeace believes that every kid deserves to have confidence, peace of mind and peace of heart. We believe every kid can overcome crisis and be a success. So, help us help kids. Let us provide the programs and resources you need to help a kid today, and let's make every kid a success story!
• Kinship Care - Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles Raising Their Grandchildren, Nieces and Nephews.
• Liberty Mutual - Since you are a member of an organization that has an alliance with Liberty Mutual, you could pocket substantial savings on your auto and homeowners insurance through Group Savings Plus. This unique program allows you to purchase high-quality auto and home insurance at special discounted rates* and with convenient payment options.
• Maine Children's Alliance - The mission of the Maine Children's Alliance is to be a strong and powerful voice to improve the lives of all Maine's children, youth, and families.
• Maine Dentists
• Maine Department of Health and Human Services -  Maine Department of Human Services.
• Maine Kids-Kin - Maine Kids-Kin assists extended family members who are stepping in to care for a relatives child(ren). The family member may be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, cousin or good friend of the family.  The children may be in the relative's care, or the relatives may be working towards that goal. Grandfamilies is a term for families headed by an extended family member: grandparent, aunt, uncle or other relative.  We are proud to servce Grandfamilies throughout the state of Maine.
• Maine Parent Federation - The Maine Parent Federation, Inc. is a statewide private non-profit organization that provides information, advocacy, education, and training to parents and professionals to benefit all children. We promote individual aspirations and community inclusion for people with disabilities. In existence since 1984, MPF is physically located in Augusta Maine, but assistance is available on a statewide basis.
• Maine Wildlife Park - The Maine Wildlife Park is located on Route 26 in Gray, Maine. The park is open 7 days a week from April through November 11, 2006.  The gates open 9:30 AM and close 4:30 PM.  All visitors are asked to leave the park by 6:00 PM. The park offers special events throughout the season.
• Nancy Thomas Parenting - A not-for-profit service organization offering information and resources on attachment disorder.
• National Center for Adoption Law and Policy - A new web site devoted entirely to adoption law and policy. You can access every state's statutes, read cases related to every aspect of adoption, and much more.
• The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) - The National Foster Parent Association is the only national organization which strives to support foster parents, and remains a consistently strong voice on behalf of all children.
• North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) - Every child has the right to a permanent family. The Council advocates the right of every child to a permanent, continuous, nurturing and culturally sensitive family.
• TeenCentral.net Provided by KidsPeace Share your experiences, find out "whassup" with people you can relate to at TeenCentral.Net, the help-line web site for teens, by teens. Looking for new options, new ideas, new friends? Got a story to tell, a wrong to right, a problem to sort out? You've come to the right site.
• Volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) - Volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are everyday people who are appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children. A CASA volunteer stays with each child until he or she is placed into a safe, permanent and nurturing home.
• The Uninsured and the Affordability of Health Insurance Coverage indicates that more than half of the nation's uninsured are ineligible for public programs and do not have enough resources to purchase coverage themselves. Childless adults made up the largest block of those who are uninsured and ineligible for public coverage, which the study attributes to a lack of eligibility for public programs such as Medicaid. (A subscription is necessary to view the full article.)
• The high costs associated with health care for people both with and without health insurance are leading many patients to turn to credit cards to cover health expenses. Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt Is Related to Medical Expenses examines this phenomenon and the makeup of the population of those with medical credit card debt.
• The slide presentation Resuming the Path to Health Coverage for Children and Parents consists primarily of charts showing the state of health insurance access for families. States have shown renewed enthusiasm for covering the uninsured, especially children, but the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) has also caused some setbacks.
• SCHIP Program Enrollment: June 2005 Update tracks changes in enrollment in the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) from June 2004 to June 2005. Economic improvements allowed many states to relax restrictions on enrollment, resulting in a net increase in enrollment nationwide. Some states that still have heavy restrictions continued to show large decreases in enrollment.
• Election Survey Finds Broad Support for SCHIP notes that more than eight in 10 voters favor increasing spending on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This summary outlines the results of the survey and describes the outcomes of other public opinion surveys about health coverage for children.
• State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) at a Glance provides basic information about SCHIP, including eligibility information as of June 2006.
• Medicaid Enrollment in 50 States provides data on Medicaid enrollment by state, including information updated through June 2005.
• Health care in the United States has become very expensive, and health care costs in the private and public sectors alike have been rising at a rapid clip. However, Medicaid Costs Are Growing More Slowly than Costs for Medicare or Private Insurance reports new data showing that Medicaid expenditures did not grow at all in fiscal year 2006 and are expected to grow only modestly in 2007.
• Medicare Part D Plan Characteristics provides new state-specific summary data about available Medicare drug benefit options. It illustrates the number of stand-alone plans with coverage in the "doughnut hole," as well as the number of plans available at no cost to qualifying beneficiaries.
• The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit provides the latest information and data about the Medicare Part D program. These data include a breakdown of the standard benefit, updates on additional low-income assistance, and the latest 2006 enrollment data.
• The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 sharply increased payments to private Medicare Advantage plans. The Cost of Privatization: Extra Payments to Medicare Advantage Plans—Updated and Revised indicates that private plans did not reduce Medicare costs in 2005 because MMA policies explicitly pay private plans more than traditional fee-for-service Medicare. In addition, these extra payments represent a potential source of funds that could be used to at least partially offset the costs of improved benefits for all Medicare enrollees.
• 2006 Medicare Advantage Benefits and Premiums analyzes the benefits and premiums of Medicare Advantage plans in 2006, including trends in relation to prior years, differences by plan type, and the level of financial protection provided to beneficiaries by the diverse types of plans.
• Employers' Views on Incremental Measures to Expand Health Coverage examines employers' views on the importance of health benefits and their perspective on policies aimed at improving employees' access to coverage and quality care. Employers of all sizes hold a positive view of the value of health benefits in attracting and retaining workers and in improving workers' health and productivity. (A subscription is necessary to view the full article.)
• Behind the Slow Growth of Employer-Based Consumer-Driven Health Plans finds that employees who use a consumer driven health plan (CDHP) are less likely to be given a choice of plans. Also, employers pay approximately the same amount for employees' CDHPs as they do for traditional plans, but employees in CDHPs are faced with much higher out-of-pocket costs than those in traditional plans.
• The 2nd Annual EBRI-Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Survey finds that enrollment in consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) is virtually unchanged since 2005. These plans are making little headway in reducing the number of uninsured, and they are still plagued by low levels of satisfaction and high out-of-pocket costs that deter beneficiaries from seeking care.
• Since the enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, most U.S. citizens and nationals applying for or renewing their Medicaid coverage face a new federal requirement to provide documentation of their citizenship status. Citizenship Documentation Requirements in Medicaid provides up-to-date information on these requirements and discusses the implications for Medicaid beneficiaries and states.
• Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look at Race, Ethnicity and Health is a new resource available through a free weekly e-mail. It summarizes and synthesizes news coverage of minority health issues and highlights studies, initiatives, and journal articles that generally do not receive mainstream news coverage. It also provides a calendar of upcoming events related to health disparities.
• Adoptive Families, the award-winning national adoption magazine, is the leading adoption information source for families before, during, and after adoption.

Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine , "AFFM" assumes no responsibility for contents provided by "linked sites" or any damage caused by your use of "linked sites."