Latest news with #RaisetheFuture
CBS News
17-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Adoption from foster care impacts future of Colorado woman
For Michelle and Clay, adoption out of foster care was the best option for expanding their family. The couple had three children and several miscarriages, but still felt they had love to give a child. "I felt like we should name her Lilly before we ever knew she existed. I thought that's what we would name her and Clay made fun of the name. 'Oh, what do we call her Lilypad? Ha,ha,ha,'" Michelle mimicked her husband with a laugh. "So then I got a call from social services and they said, 'We've got a child we'd like you to consider. Her name is Lilly.'" "It was really like a family decision. It was exciting," said Makayla, Michelle and Clay's oldest daughter. She was 11 years old when Lilly came to the family. "Lilly's abuse was so severe that the parental rights were terminated very quickly. She was hurt when she was 5 months old," Michelle explained. "Going from her not really responding to us at all to then she was finally responding to us, it was really neat," Makayla recalled. Makayla spent years go to Lilly's therapy appointments and learning how to care for her. The experience shaped Makayla's future. "I don't think I would have been a special education teacher without that and had the patience with kids that I do. I can be so patient with kids," she told CBS News Colorado. Lilly is 15 now. She goes to high school. When asked if she likes school, Lilly replied, "Yep, except when we have fire drills. Those are the worst." "It changed my outlook on kids and what they can do," Makayla said. Growing up with Lilly had a profound impact on Makayla. When it came time for her to have a family of her own, she also considered adoption. "There's just so many kids out there that need good homes," she said. LINK: A Day for Wednesday's Child CBS Colorado has been partners with Raise the Future for nearly 40 years. Join CBS Colorado for a day of fundraising and awareness during A Day for Wednesday's Child on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
CBS News
17-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Raise the Future lobbies at Colorado State Capitol, gives a voice to kids who are in state's foster care system
The nonprofit Raise the Future has more than 40 years of experience helping children in Colorado who are in foster care. Their team finds connections for kids who are likely to linger in the system. State funding has changed in recent years for organizations like Raise the Future, and as dollars get reallocated, they have to make up the difference by encouraging more donations to their cause. The group advocates for legislation that impacts children who are under the care of the state. They lobby lawmakers at the Colorado State Capitol and give a voice to those who often feel like they are unheard. "That is something we just take very seriously at Raise the Future," CEO Ann Ayers said. "We're never going to give up." During this legislative session, Democratic state Rep. Lindsay Gilchrist is sponsoring a bill that would require human services departments to create a plan for transitioning a child from one foster care home to another. "We don't want the bill to be too prescriptive, but the purpose is to ensure we can move kids in a trauma-informed way," Gilchrist said. Gilchrist is a foster mom herself. "We had a great experience; a really well thought out transition plan with all parties involved. Trauma-informed, all of those things," she said. Not every transition is so well planned out, and and it's the children who suffer the consequences in those situations. "One of the things we see with our kids, our kids tend to have bags packed, and I don't know if many people know this but often social services shows up right after school -- so that is a really scary period of time for kids, to go home, because they're afraid that there's going to be a worker waiting to move them to a different home at that point," Ayers said. "When you're leaving your child with a babysitter, you give them tons of information. And if you could imagine a kid moving with no information, they are moving to a new home where they may not be able to bring their favorite stuffy. I mean, that is just heartbreaking," Gilchrist said. A plan might include an outline of logistics, a framework for pre- and post-move communications and consulting the child on the move. The bill does make allowances for emergencies. "We understand that sometimes if there is a safety issue if for whatever reason the current provider or foster parent can no longer care for the child, you do not want to slow that process down if it's necessary that they move quickly," Gilchrist said. The goal is to set a standard in which children get some agency over their own lives. "We just want to make sure that that is as smooth as possible," Gilchrist said.
CBS News
16-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Former Wednesday's Child finds a loving Colorado family, promising future
CBS News Colorado has been profiling children living in foster care since 1979. Over the years, many of those children have found their forever family due to those television stories . It's a win every time it happens. Jalysa was one of those children. Over the years she was featured on CBS News Colorado several times. She spent 13 years in the foster care system and had 23 placements along the way. "My dream was to have a mom and a dad and meet my siblings again," Jalysa told CBS News Colorado. Jalysa's forever family at just the right moment. "We found her and she was ... they were just getting ready to send her to Camber Children's Mental Health facility in Kansas City," said Michelle, Jalysa's adoptive mother. "When I was going through a hard time in Kansas and I had a plan to just not be here on this earth no more ... for some reason, they just decided to show up and take me in. Then, the next few months later, they asked me if they wanted to adopt me, and they kind of crumbled my plan," Jalysa laughed as she recalled. "But it was a good reason." Michelle and Clay officially adopted Jalysa in August of 2024. She is the biological half-sister to their twins, Tyler & Cody. Michelle and Clay adopted the twins when they were infants. They were born premature and spent two months in the NICU. Thirteen years later, they are thrilled to be reunited with their sister. "I feel like I'm actually a part of something rather than feeling like an outcast," Jalysa said. Being a part of something is a huge adjustment of Jalysa after years and years of being all alone. Michelle and Clay saw some big behaviors from Jalysa when she first came home with them. "In the beginning, we saw more, where she struggled with it a lot harder. We had more kinds of meltdowns, I guess you could say," Clay explained. "To trust that we love her, to allow herself to be loved, when her whole life she felt she wasn't worthy of love, that she couldn't be loved, that she never would be loved," Michelle said. Her dream was to have a mom and a dad and meet her siblings again. She got that and so much more. She got comfort. She got a home. She got a foundation from which she can build a bright future. Jalysa is excited to go to college in the fall. "I just want the other kids to know they might be going through a lot of difficult times and not feeling that they're loved or cared for and just... they don't have a family right now, but they'll either make one of their own or they can have one," she said. LINK: A Day for Wednesday's Child You can make a donation to support A Day for Wednesday's Child and help Raise the Future by calling 303-755-3975, or text 2025 DWC TO 71777, or click the link above.
CBS News
16-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Raise the Future is committed to supporting adoptive families
Raise the Future has been finding permanency for children living in foster care for nearly 40 years. Their Youth Connections Advocates build relationships with the children and explore their whole history to build a community for them. Then, when a child finds permanency, Raise the Future is there to provide support services. Raise the Future is a leader in the state for teaching Trust-based Relational Interventions, TBRI. TBRI is a trauma-informed, whole-child approach to caring for vulnerable children. It gives parents tangible tools for connecting with their children and helps them heal from the trauma they've experienced. "TBRI has been a massive thing in our lives," said Jayla, an adoptive daughter. Garry and Stacey adopted Jayla and her older sister when they were preschoolers. "Our older daughter lived in four different homes by the time we were able to bring her into our home, so she had abandonment issues," Garry explained. The issues that Jorja and Jayla faced and the trauma they suffered didn't start to surface until they got older. "When we went into this we were naive, and we thought, 'Ah, we've raised two great kids. We know what we're doing.' It's a whole different rule book when you adopt," Stacey explained. Stacey took a TBRI class, and the family had regular visits from a TBRI coach. "Just all the techniques to keep the kids from what they call 'flipping their lids' and helping us as a family connect," Stacey said. "We both come from sort of traumatic backgrounds. It kind of helps you process those things as a family and get through them normally instead of everything being crazy all the time," Jayla said. While the girls had every advantage growing up, they still needed help regulating their emotions. "I have to leave the room or it will not go well," Jorja explained. "One of my personal favorites that we learned was tapping, which is like self-regulatory, like tapping yourself, which just kind of helps you calm down from emotions," Jayla said. Garry and Stacey also had a lot to learn about how to meet their girls' needs. "It actually goes against what ...sometimes when you're in a really emotional situation, and you want to be really firm and raise your voice, TBRI says to the opposite," Garry explained. These days there are more good days than bad. Jorja is going to college and working in early childhood education, and Jayla has plans to become a mental health nurse for children. LINK: A Day for Wednesday's Child CBS Colorado has been a partner with Raise the Future for nearly 40 years. Join CBS Colorado for a day of fundraising and awareness during A Day for Wednesday's Child on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
CBS News
16-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Raise the Future is on the forefront of bringing relational tools to Colorado
Raise the Future has become a statewide resource for caring for vulnerable children. Trust-based relational interventions (TBRI) give parents and others the tools they need to connect with people who've suffered trauma. Ashley Oliver is at the forefront of creating therapeutic homes for children living in foster care. "We definitely need more foster homes. We have seen an increased need for really strong homes who are dedicated to it," Oliver said. There is an increase in the number of youth who are having strong reactions to the trauma in their lives. They've moved multiple times. They've maybe run away. They're maybe participating in risky behaviors. Now Oliver is implementing TBRI in the therapeutic homes. "I have seen great successes," she added. "TBRI is definitely a way of thinking, a way of being. It's a lens of moving and a lens of how you connect with other people. How you communicate with other people," K.P. Longton said of the practice. Longton has been practicing TBRI for years. She encouraged Adams County Human Services to learn more about the practice through Raise the Future. "Once I became a practitioner, I realized it's not just a child-centered approach, it is a human-centered approach," Longton explained. In 2024, Raise the Future held a TBRI Summit to introduce different stakeholders to the practice. Adams County was there. "I was really impressed with the whole concept of TBRI," said Kari Daggett, Division Director of Children and Family Services in Adams County. She quickly got on board with implementing TBRI across the division but also within the office. "A high percentage of people in helping professions being with them generational trauma of their own," Daggett explained. "It is very effective adult-to-adult, especially because everyone in the Human Services realm has taken on the difficult times of others and is providing that support for them, and that has an emotional labor to it," Longton said. Longton is now in charge of spreading TBRI techniques across the entire department with Raise the Future as a resource. "With this knowledge it really supports the metaphor of needing to put oxygen masks on yourself first. I think that's a big thing that I see any parent struggle with," Oliver said. Oliver continues to be inspired by TBRI among the families with which she works. "I have one kiddo who's moved 7 times, and we were able to stabilize her, and she has now been in the same placement for a year. Moved 7 times, that is amazing," Oliver said. LINK: A Day for Wednesday's Child CBS Colorado has been partner with Raise the Future for nearly 40 years. Join CBS Colorado for a day of fundraising and awareness during A Day for Wednesday's Child on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
