New York State's Separated Siblings

YET THESE CHILDREN ARE BEING PLACED SEPARATELY FROM THEIR SIBLINGS

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Information on many more New York children awaiting adoption is available at
The Adoption Album, New York State Office of Children and Family Services

Information for Advocates:

• Keeping Siblings Connected -June, 2007 NYS OCFS White Paper on Siblings in Foster Care and Adoptive Placement ( pdf)
• NYS CCC's Separated Siblings Report 2000-2002
  An overview of the findings from a three year analysis of separated siblings in New York State foster care, including recommendations for change, and links to each year's report and Trends 2000-2002.
• Keeping Siblings Together: A Statement in Support and Recommendations for Change.
• New York State's Laws & Regulations Regarding Siblings

Articles Relating to Sibling Separation and Loss:

• Visitation Through the Eyes of a Child - Practice Notes on Sibling Visitation from the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota.
• New Jersey Summer Camp for Separated Siblings - Describes a summer camp designed to reunite children separated in foster care placements.
• Overcoming Barriers to Keeping Siblings Together - Outlines potential reasons for separating siblings, and why they should be overcome.
• Sibling-Friendly Agencies and Practices Keep Children Together - Information about how agencies can use specific recruitment techniques to place sibling groups together.
• Sibling Loss: The Hidden Tragedy of the Child Welfare System - Background information about sibling separation and explanation of one model program designed to place siblings together.
• Sibling Ties Are Worth Preserving - Suggestions for adoption workers and adoptive parents on how to keep siblings together.
• When Siblings Are Separated: What Parents Need to Know- Information for parents trying to decide whether their adopted and foster children should maintain contact with separated siblings.
• Adoption & Sibling Relationships: What Children Have Taught Me - Link to North American Council on Adoptable Children

Searching for Siblings:

• Adoption Information Registry - New York State Department of Health
• Internet search resources compiled by NYSCCC

Research and Advocacy Resources

• National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning - Information Packet: Siblings in Foster Care - Collection of fact sheets, model program information, and other information from various sources, including information formerly on Casey Resource Family site.
• Sibling Groups in Out of Home Care - Link to the the national Child Welfare Information Gateway
• Proceedings of the National Leadership Symposium on Siblings in Out-of-Home Care from Casey Family Programs
• Youth Leadership Advisory Team Position Paper: Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption -The Maine Youth Leadership Advisory Team's position paper was instrumental in shaping the Maine Department of Human Services' sibling policy, effective July 2002.
• Conservation of Sibling Bonds - Issue Briefs from the Children and Family Research Center
• Reading List Compiled by NYSCCC

Model Programs Designed to Unite and/or Place Sibling Groups Together

• Growing Up Together - Programs promote placing siblings together in foster families within their neighborhood. From Connect for Kids.
• Neighbor to Neighbor - Chicago Based Hull House Association Neighbor to Neighbor program works to keep large sibling groups together in stable foster placements.
• Neighbor to Family - Introduction and Evaluation - Expansion of Neighbor to Neighbor program based in Florida.
• Camp To Belong - A nonprofit summer camp dedicated to reuniting brothers and sisters separated in foster care.
• Project Visitation - Hawaii project utilizing volunteers to maintain the relationship between siblings who are living in separate foster homes by bringing them together for regular visitations.

05/27/2008