ACS’s Deputy Commissioner of Family Permanency Services Julie Farber invited Rise Senior Parent Leader Jeanette Vega to participate in the 2017 New York State Permanency Summit on December 5 and 6 in Albany. The Summit, sponsored by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, Casey Family Programs and the Redlich Horwitz Foundation, celebrated the work being done in counties across New York to achieve permanency for children and offered an opportunity for leaders around … Read More
News And Events
Broke and Alone — It wasn’t love that made me open the door to my daughter’s unstable father
November 28, 2017 by
When I was 23 and my doctor told me I was pregnant, I put my head down and burst out crying.
A piece of me felt grateful that God chose me to bring life into the world. But I also felt angry, ashamed, selfish and scared. The father and I had only been dating a short while. Plus, I had a job but he didn’t, and neither of us was financially secure.
Still, when my boyfriend told me that … Read More
Nancy’s Story: Helping Parents Find Their Power
November 02, 2017 by
I never want another parent or child to feel like I did facing the child welfare system—alone and powerless.
**
I was 5 years old when I was removed from my mother. My mother was at times loving, but God rest her soul, suffered from schizophrenia.
After that, I was placed with my grandmother, but my grandmother was not a loving person—no hugs or kisses. I never really understood that.
When she gave us up, my sister and I went … Read More
Sharkkarah’s Story: Getting the Monster Out
November 02, 2017 by
To me, the child welfare system is like the monster in the dark in my kids’ room. I have done everything I’ve had to do to get that monster out.
When I became a mother, I wanted to end my family’s cycle of losing children to the foster care system.
My grandmother lost my father.
My mother and father lost me.
My sister lost her children.
My brother lost his child.
ACS came into my life because I was hitting my … Read More
‘How do people get through unbelievable, harrowing difficulty?’ – An interview with author Andrew Solomon
September 27, 2017 by
National Book Award-winning author Andrew Solomon will speak at Rise’s annual benefit on October 19. Here he discusses his work, his own story and his connection to Rise.
Q: What do you see as the common theme across your work?
A: The theme that interests me the most is resilience: How do people achieve resilience? How do they manage to go through difficult circumstances and come out OK?
I’ve written on a broad range of subjects.With my book The … Read More