the rose moore show- susanne buxbaum

[Guest guest]

" The Rose Show "

Guest - LIVE

SUSANNE BUXBAUM

- Advocate Extraordinaire -

" Care Children are Left Behind "

The Forgotten Child

" 2 Part Series "

Saturday November 4th, 2006 Part II

6-7 pm - PST

Key into:

www.alltalkradio.net

Internet Radio - on your computer

6 - 7 pm PST

Check for your own local times!

- FOSTER CARE CHILDREN -

The Forgotten Child

Care Children are being " Left Behind " over and over again. So many

moves for just one child in the Care System cause severe problems

with learning and major problems with behavior as well. Teachers don't know

where to start helping the child due to paperwork not following the child.

Even though there are laws out there are to protect our Care

Children - their rights are violated " continually " both in school and in the

Care System and with the Judicial System.

ne Buxbaum, an Advocate for over 20 years, is going to discuss the laws

as well as how the schools, the system and the judicial system need to

respond to the needs of these children.

This show is for all parents whose children are in Care as well as

the Care Parents, Schools and Police Departments.

ne's full Biography is attached to this announcement!

To get the " Whole Picture " of who ne is and what she is about, please

read this Bio in full.

Rose - Talk Show Host

BIOGRAPHY

FOR

SUSANNE BUXBAUM

HOW IT STARTED: Teaching and Coaching in Southern California

ne, an experienced education law expert and child's rights advocate,

assists families who call her in the midst of crisis, particularly but not

exclusively parents with " special needs " children. She leads them in the

discovery process of locating the best path for a child, identify necessary

services to provide an " appropriate " education, always highly individualized

and in the best interest of the child as agreed to by the family, educators

and possibly other county professionals with this same goal in mind.

ne's interest in discovering the services and curriculum to meet the

special needs of this population began nearly twenty years ago while she was

working as a long term substitute teacher and private tutor for " different

learners " in Southern California. Concurrently, she coached children and

adults, most with ADD/ADHD, but also those with serious mental health and

unique physical health challenges which impaired the abilities of these

populations to learn in traditional settings using the standard tools,

additionally " coaching " many in learning strategies effective for

understanding and managing day-to-day " life skills " .

THE SUPPORT GROUP:

ne was encouraged and took the challenge to start a support group for

parents of children with ADD/ADHD in Southern California. The first meeting

was held in her living room: she expected about five or six parents. About

fifty parents appeared, as well as teachers, friends and families of the

parents and that meeting was, literally, " standing room only " . Soon a

school auditorium at a private school was the setting, after ne

explained her dilemma to administrators who were more than cooperative and

generous when it came to providing an obvious need in that community with

nothing even beginning to resemble it, anywhere nearby.

DISTANCE LEARNING:

When she moved her family to Central California, ne's business moved

with her. She developed and received a copyright for one of the first

" distance learning " courses for children and adults who learn differently,

called, " CyberSpaceSummerSchool " .

TEACHING DIFFERENT LEARNERS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL:

Her practice took on a far more broad scope when she agreed to teach a

Community College course, specifically designed for those with learning

differences (or disabilities), the " Master Student Class " , at Monterey

Peninsula College for college age, transitioning and returning students.

She then taught a modified version of this course at Chartwell School, a

unique Central Coast campus for Dyslexic children from K-8. This course was

taught during summer session at Chartwell to help children prepare for

mainstream schools after graduating from 8th Grade at Chartwell. As a

result of her success with these academic presentations, ne was

successful and reported that she felt re-energized with new and exciting

teaching strategies when she signed on at Monterey Peninsula College as

adjunct faculty, to teach remedial English courses.

THE SHIFT TO WRAPAROUND SERVICES:

In 2002, ne became a member of Unity Care Group's Wraparound division

as their Resource and Mentoring coordinator. Wraparound is a strength

based, family centered process designed to identify the needs and strengths

of a child at risk of losing his/her placement in the home and help families

disengage from previous involvements with " the system " , those in which the

court provided direction to the family via the Department of Social

Services, the Department of Children's Behavioral Health and possibly the

Department of Juvenile Probation. One of the goals of the Wraparound

process is to return the " power " to the parents in making family decisions

and direction for their children. Wraparound originally began as a strategy

to keep potential foster or group home children in their homes, partnering

with those agencies in a less formal and far less deficit-based manner.

ne soon became that Central Coast Wraparound team's Program Manager,

and promoted, eight months later, to Program Director, continuing to provide

education advocacy for children and siblings receiving Wraparound services.

She received certification and began providing community trainings at

Hartnell College's Wraparound Academy for Families and Professionals through

a ten week course as a partnership between Hartnell College, the Department

of Social Services and Monterey County's Workforce and Employment Services.

Although ne decided in April, 2006, to resign from her

position as Program Director from Unity Care Group, she was happy to return

to advocating for the rights of child and adolescents. She plans to

continue to provide trainings regarding education law and those laws

addressing special needs children through a variety of venues.

PARTNERING WITH ADOPTIVE FAMILIES

In summer of 2006, she partnered with Kinship Center, a well-known and well

respected adoption agency with headquarters in Salina, CA. ne was one

of several keynote speakers at Kinship's " Camp Pakk " , (Camp for Parents of

Adoptive Kids Kamp), for four days of intensive, informative Education Law

presentations and individual counseling regarding education law as it

relates to adopted children.

NATIONAL WRAPAROUND TRAINER:

Currently, ne has agreed to contract as the presenter for a 20 week

Wraparound Training through Hartnell Community College in Salinas,

California, beginning the first week of October and designed to answer the

questions of Wraparound professionals who have been working in the community

for several years and fine tuning the nuances known only to those who have

been working this process over time. For this training, she has designed her

own curriculum and her goal is to help answer the questions of these

community professionals who still struggle with the style of services,

outcomes and community partnering challenging in Monterey and adjoining

counties.

ne continues as a Wraparound trainer in high demand with

her particular expertise in the area of Education Law. She continues to

take occasional high-profile children's rights advocacy cases as well as

many on a pro-bono basis.

WRAPAROUND FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN TRANSITION:

This fall her goal is to make it possible for those who do not qualify for

Wraparound services (according to Senate Bill 480) because of parental

income or children who have been adopted into counties which do not provide

Wraparound services. She has a team who will begin this " flavor " of

Wraparound before the end of October and begin by training Wraparound to

therapeutic residential programs as a transition strategy for children who

are preparing to return home but whose families have been involved in the

transition process, the make-or-break final lesson for children and

families, only on a very limited basis.

WRAPAROUND FOR THE POPULATION INELIGIBLE FOR SERVICES:

This idea evolved from multiple conversations with ne's partners over

the last year, also veterans in this type of strength-based, needs driven

work to take the Wraparound process to this venue - the therapeutic

residential programs, and has been enthusiastically embraced by programs

across the country. This professional Wraparound team which will meet with

the families in their communities and homes, not over the internet or by

phone as others have attempted (and failed) to coach children and families

in transition. This team, Family Matters Group, will meet with families

wherever they live and will continue after stabilization has been achieved

via webcam weekly " team meetings " , making occasional home visits as needed.

The team has a 24/7 crisis line available to children and adults, as well as

" new " Wraparound professionals working programs and needing help when a

crisis arrives with which they are unfamiliar. ne's team has extensive

experience with a very diverse " community " of families, maintaining cultural

competency regardless of the community to which the team is called.

" Children Left Behind "

Questions!

1. What's happening to our Youth?

What do you think is the state of affairs in the world of our foster

children?

2. We hear reports all the time about the abuse and neglect of foster

children. Is it that we aren't investigating potential caregivers?

3. Why do you believe that there are so many children in foster care?

4. What do you think is the solution (or solutions) to all of these

kids in the system?

5. Who is to blame for Children who get hurt, are molested, or

die while in the homes of foster parents?

6. We've all heard stories about Children who somehow survive

multiple placements, but not all have the happiest outcomes. How do some

survive and some thrive?

7. Who can Children safely talk with to get help?

8. We know that healthy families with biological children in their

homes, will sometimes, discourage their children from interacting with - or

just becoming casual friends with - Children.

9. Do you think that teachers should know this kind of personal

information about a child - that a child in his or her classroom is a

Child?

10. Who else has a " need to know " abut Children in the school,

community or neighborhoods and why?

11. What can be done for Children who HAVE been damaged by

caregivers?

12. When we hear about youth who " age out of the system " , what does this

mean?

13. What happens to these kids, then when they are " aged out of the

system " .

14. What is the " Best Case " scenario, for most Care kids, in

terms of a good placement?

15. What kind of support can foster families receive to become better

foster parents?

16. What are the Parents and Schools suppose to do, according to

the law, when it comes to enrolling a child in school.

17. Other than Diagnosed Disabilities of a Care Child, what other

disorders or syndromes do they acquire while in Care that is

prevalent?

18. Let's talk about the 12 to 35 placements of a child or teen that is

in the Care System? Why did this happen?

19. It may sound trivial to our listeners but let's talk about the

Care Children's personal items.

20. There are many resources for parents to help Care children

and teens but do you find a problem with the communication of each resource

and agency?