The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) started the Foster Youth Internship program in 2003 to raise awareness on Capitol Hill about the needs and unique perspectives of young adults in the United States aging out of foster care.

Every year, Congressional Members partner with CCAI to "match" an eligible intern to an eight week internship in their Washington, D.C. office. Every effort is made to place interns in the region of the country where they reside permanently. For a complete list of intern duties and financial information, please visit our website at www.affm.net.

The eligibility requirements are: All applicants must be enrolled in college and have completed 4 semesters by May 18, 2007. The applicant must have experience in U.S. foster care at the time of their eighteenth birthday, or be adopted after their fourteenth birthday from the U.S. foster care system. Good writing and research skills accompanied by an interest in the legislative process are required, and students in every degree program are encouraged to apply.

For more information, please contact Chelsea Buffington at Chelsea@ccainstitute.org, or by phone at (703) 288-9700.

Did you hear……...the Mike and Mike show on Nov. 14th? They were broadcasting live from the AFFM offices in Old Town! The morning was a tremendous success, with families visiting, people calling in,
stories, lots of laughter, and some tears.

AFFM cannot express enough gratitude to Mike Elliot and Mike Dow for the time and energy they spent talking about Maine's children.

We also want to thank Dunkin' Donuts in Old Town for the refreshments, and Home Depot in Bangor, for the donation of a Butterfly Bush, which will be planted at AFFM and dedicated to "Maine's Waiting
Children."

The Mount View Chamber Singers will be performing their concert tour, "Carols in the Round" (a concert by candle light, in which the singers encircle the audience) throughout Maine during the Month of December. The concert consists of 16 (and 1 alternate) high school singers who are chosen by audition, performing acapella music of all ages, languages, and genres. For a complete schedule of their appearances, please visit their site www.mvhs.sad3.k12.me.us. and click on the "chamber singers" link.

Due to the nature of this performance, this show is recommended for children who can remained focused for more than an hour. It is a very relaxing, peaceful experience!

AFFM wishes to thank the following businesses who helped make the "tailgate party" at the UMO football game on Nov. 4th such a success: Lindsay's Artworks in Enfield, Dominic's Pizza, Old Town, Governors Restaurant in Old Town, Pat's Pizza in Orono, Weaver's Bakery in Belfast, and Hannaford Supermarket in Old Town. The support of these businesses helped make the event so much fun. It was wonderful to see and meet so many families, and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

LIBRARY UPDATES

AFFM is pleased to announce the following addition to our resource library .

Bipolar: The Elements of Bipolar Disorder

Dr. Jay Carter
Written by a licensed psychologist from a more intimate perspective, this book candidly discusses bi-polar treatment, using personal stories to enhance explanations. Written with a sense of humor, this relatively short book is a wealth of information.

Bipolar: An Orthodox, Common Sense Explanation (DVD)

Dr. Jay Carter
This recorded seminar pairs well with Dr. Jay's book Bipolar: The Elements of Bipolar Disorder. Dr. Jay uses plain English when explaining this often misunderstood disorder. The seminar is presented on four DVD's.

Butterflies Don't Land on Manure: The Transformation of an Ordinary Man

Dr. Jay Carter
A fictional story about one man's search for meaning. Filled with humor, adventure, and enlightenment, the main character is transformed with the help of dragons and wizards disguised as human beings. Readers are sure to find lasting meaning in the message of this story.

The Bully Caterpillar: An Adventurous Journey of the Inner Child

Dr. Jay Carter
The Bully Caterpillar is intended for children but appropriate for everyone. It's the story of a young caterpillar named Harold who resists the urge to build a cocoon like the other caterpillars. Harold learns that being mean and disrespectful won't get you anywhere n life. The story of Harold is truly the story of an inner child's emotional rite of passage.

A Beautiful Sadness: Daulton's Legacy

Luanne Wainwright-Erskine, Dr. Jay Carter
Daulton Wainwright-Erskine was a young boy who battled cancer. This book shares excerpts from his short life, as well as inspirational stories of grace and dignity. His stories will encourage you to live your life with greater appreciation for the blessings you have been granted.

The Sun Will Rise Despite the Darkness

Jacki Tase
The Sun Will Rise is an inspirational book offering thoughts to challenge, biblical passages to focus, and a place to record your prayers and reflections. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by life, or desire more love, peace, or hope, this book can be a comfort.

Connecting with Kids through Stories: Using Narratives to Facilitate Attachment in Adopted Children
Denise B. Lacher, Todd Nichols and Joanne C. May Children whose early development has been damaged by abuse or neglect can be notoriously difficult to reach. Connecting with Kids through Stories is an accessible guide to Family Attachment Narrative Therapy for the parents of adopted or fostered children, and for the
professionals who work with them. This book shows parents how to create their own therapeutic stories to promote increased attachment and improve behavior in their child. The authors describe how different kinds of narratives can help with specific difficulties and illustrate their techniques with the story of a fictional family who develop their own narratives to help their adopted child heal.

To access these, or any titles materials in the resource library, please call the AFFM office at 1-800-833-9786.

A friendly reminder:

The AFFM library serves as training information for many. If you've borrowed a book, DVD, or audio cassette from our library and it's overdue, please return it or call us to extend the date.
Thank you for your cooperation!

Country Woman Magazine is looking to interview families who have moved foster youth with them from an urban area to a suburban or rural area.  If you or anyone you know fits this criteria and is willing to be interviewed for a foster care month article, please contact: Karen Jorgenson at 1-800-557-5238.

During the holidays, no one likes to think about taxes. But filing time will be here before we know it, so it might be a good idea to review some tax issues that relate to adoption, foster care and kinship care.

First of all, it's good to know that all kids--whether adopted, or in foster or kinship care--qualify as exemptions on your tax return. To
determine if your child qualifies, visit our website, www.affm.net, and click on the Qualifying Child link. Since each exemption reduces by $3,200 the amount on which you have to pay taxes, the more exemptions the better! (Kin providers please note: TANF may be reduced when child is claimed.)

It's also nice to know that, except in rare circumstances, you don't have to pay taxes on foster care reimbursement. (The exception is if you receive difficulty-of-care payments for 10 or more children.)

Adopting parents can take a tax credit for adoption expenses. (A credit is different--and better--than a deduction, because you subtract a credit directly from the tax that you would otherwise pay.) Also, if your employer reimbursed any of your adoption expenses, you may not have to count those reimbursements as income.

Expenses that qualify for the adoption credit include court costs, attorney fees, and traveling expenses related to adopting a child. If you adopt more than one child, you get a credit for each one. There is, however, a limit to how much credit you can take for each adoption: in 2006 the limit is $10,960. (If you're lucky enough to make over $164,410 a year, your credit is limited.)

Generally, you take the credit on the tax return you file the year after you incurred the adoption
expenses. For example, if you paid the expenses in 2006, you would take the credit on the return you file in the spring of 2007. However, if the adoption becomes final in the year in which you paid the expenses, you can amend your current tax return (in our example, the one you filed in the spring of 2006), and perhaps receive a refund sooner.

As always, AFFM recommends that you consult a professional accountant to assist in your tax preparation. Good luck!

Kinship Christmas Requests

AFFM would like to remind kinship families that the deadline to register for the Gift giving program was Oct. 13th. The program is now closed. There is nothing we would love more than to be able to provide every item on every request. Unfortunately, this is not possible. Every one who has registered to date will be receiving a nice gift (s). Families will be contacted for gift distribution.

As always, AFFM wishes to thank all the kinship families for all you do, and we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

Kinship Corner

Kinship Building
Family: A Critical Connection for All
By Virginia S. Marriner, LSW

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services has recently renewed it's commitment to birth family connections for children involved in the child welfare system through an emphasis on kinship care.

Kinship care in Maine is defined as any relationship that involves full time care of a child by an individual who is related by blood, marriage, adoption or close family relationships acknowledged by birth parents, adoptive parents, tribe or the child.

Important steps have been taken to value, reinforce, codify, and institutionalize commitment to preserving ongoing family relationships.

Policy:

Maine's new Relative Placement and Kinship Care policy clarifies the importance of relative placements and emphasizes the preservation of family relationships and familial bonds.

This policy makes clear that the preferred practice is to minimize the impact of separation of family and the familiar environment. This includes community, church, schools and extended family. A focus of this policy is to familiarize staff on the organizational values regarding the importance of family and to value and
recognize the healing capability of family connection and support of children who have experienced trauma.

Statute:

The Maine Permanency Guardianship Program, effective April 2006, was developed over a period of two years through the efforts of a work group of public and private, child welfare, legal, mental health, tribal, and community members.

A goal of this program is to honor cultural norms and family values. Permanency Guardianship became law under Maine Statute in September 2005, allowing for the District Court, as a dispositional alternative in child protection cases, to appoint a permanency guardian. Permanency guardianship provides an additional permanency option and encourages relative placement. The subsidy available in permanency guardianship is structured the same as adoption assistance subsidy. Post secondary educational benefits are enhanced for this option as well.

Community Connections:

Maine has a long tradition of relative caregivers, both those connected with child welfare and those who have stepped in on their own to care for children who are a part of their family system.

Maine Kids-Kin:

This is an organization supported by contract money through Maine's Department of Health and Human Services and other resources. Maine Kids-Kin provides information and educational materials for families to help the children in their care feel more safe, stable and secure.

Programs are available designed especially for relatives who are parenting children affected by substance abuse or HIV, among other issues.

Support and information groups are available statewide so relatives can share their experiences and solutions to challenging situations.

Maine Kids-Kin, in collaboration with their sister agency, Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, maintains an expansive resource library. Resource staff are available by phone to respond to questions to help relatives navigate complicated systems when they are trying to advocate for and meet the needs of the children they love and care for.

The organization also maintains the Caring Relatives listserv and an e-mail discussion list for grandparents, aunts, and uncles who are raising grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. AFFM maintains a website with many complimenting resources.

Specialized Training:

Introductory training, Fundamentals of Foster and Adoptive Parenting, is provided to prospective foster and adoptive parents to prepare them to understand and cope with the experience of receiving an adoptive or foster child into their home.

Maine is also working diligently with relative caregivers to address barriers to meeting the standards for foster, adoptive, or permanency guardianship so they may have their kin children in their homes in safe, legally stable relationships.

Funding in some circumstances is made available to help relative families make home repairs to meet necessary standards.

While Maine has undertaken significant steps to increase relative connections and adoptive placements with relatives, we continue to assess practice to be assured that children are afforded the fundamental right to family connections.

Virginia S. Marriner, LSW, is Adoptions Program Manager, Maine Department of Health and Family Services.

On Nov. 13th, in honor of National Adoption Awareness month, 17 children had their adoptions finalized at the Children's Museum in Portland! Congratulations to all, and thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this event!