Iowa Parent Partners at their 2016 Summit with copies of Rise! This statewide organization provides peer mentoring to parents facing the child welfare system. Thank you Carly Shaw and Sara Persons for bringing Rise to Iowa!
News And Events
‘My Goal Is to Return Power to Parents’ – A new series of stories by frontline staff about working with parents in child welfare
April 10, 2016 by
Caseworkers play such an important role in whether parents succeed in getting their children home from foster care.
When my son was in foster care, I had 5 or 6 caseworkers over the course of three years. Most of my caseworkers seemed like they were too busy to give me 5 minutes of their time, or were so scared of my anger that they avoided me. I used to feel so frustrated, thinking: “You never have … Read More
Rise Parent Leaders Present Reform Recommendations at CUNY Law Symposium on Family Court
April 08, 2016 by
Four parent leaders from Rise presented parents’ perspectives on facing New York City Family Courts at the CUNY Law School symposium “Reimagining Family Defense” on April 8. Drawing on interviews with dozens of parents with current child welfare cases and stories published in Rise’s parent-written magazine over the past 10 years, Piazadora Footman, Robbyne Wiley, Bevanjae Kelley and Nancy Fortunato described common themes in parents’ experiences facing the court and gave recommendations for reform.
Click here to … Read More
‘With Every Story I Write, I Learn More About What It Takes to Be Me’
March 22, 2016 by
My introduction to Rise was through the writing workshop at the Child Welfare Organizing Project. When I started, I was writing just to write. Then I found that writing was a way to gain insight into my life.
I never knew that writing words on paper would open up so many old wounds.
The first thing I discovered was that I’d suppressed a lot of what happened in my life. I remembered things my mother … Read More
The Moth Partners with Rise to Build Storytelling Skills and Confidence
February 05, 2016 by
In January, Rise partnered with The Moth on a workshop where 8 parents leaders learned to tell a story aloud – without notes!
The Moth workshop was part of our new public speaking training program, Rise & Shine, to support our parent leaders in becoming more skilled and confident while telling their stories for an audience.
In the past two years, Rise parent leaders have increasingly presented their stories and recommendations for child welfare reform to top policymakers. In … Read More