GOBHI Foster Care

Bring your costumed kids to the Oregon Zoo Howloween for treats and safe fun!

The zoo provides a fun and safe setting for this Halloween tradition, happening the last two weekends in October (Oct. 19, 20, 26 and 27). Costumed trick-or-treaters can learn about healthy habitats for wildlife with engaging activities throughout the zoo.

Bring your treat bags and join the trail of activities! Live entertainment - including magic shows, puppet shows and more - will be taking place both weekends. In keeping with the zoo's mission, all the treats come from companies committed to using deforestation-free palm oil.

Activities are best suited for children ages 2-10, but all are welcome.

Please see the Oregon Zoo website to purchase tickets (tickets must be purchased in advance), costume guidelines, and more information.

Howloween Bring your costumed kids on weekends for treats and safe fun!

Take a look at the Therapeutic Foster Care team wish list here: https://a.co/9KDXOfq

Bring your costumed kids to the Oregon Zoo Howloween for treats and safe fun!

The zoo provides a fun and safe setting for this Halloween tradition, happening the last two weekends in October (Oct. 19, 20, 26 and 27). Costumed trick-or-treaters can learn about healthy habitats for wildlife with engaging activities throughout the zoo.

Bring your treat bags and join the trail of activities! Live entertainment - including magic shows, puppet shows and more - will be taking place both weekends. In keeping with the zoo's mission, all the treats come from companies committed to using deforestation-free palm oil.

Activities are best suited for children ages 2-10, but all are welcome.

Please see the Oregon Zoo website to purchase tickets:

Howloween Bring your costumed kids on weekends for treats and safe fun!

Carving isn’t the only way to decorate your pumpkins for fall. Painting is a fun, easy way to add color and fun without the need for sharp tools. Pumpkin painting is a great fall craft for kids of all ages and skill levels and can be spooky, fun, detailed, or wild. Just use paint, or add googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter, and more to make your creations pop. Use real pumpkins, or try plastic pumpkins for decor you can use for years to come. See the link for tips on how to make your painted pumpkins last.

How to Paint Pumpkins (the Right Way) - Scraplifters.com Visit Scraplifters.com to learn how to paint pumpkins, including how to seal the pumpkin so that your paint will not flake off.

Craft your own spooky spider webs with just a few supplies! Use popsicle sticks, glue, paint, and yarn to create your own spider web decorations. Or for an even cheaper option, use small sticks from your yard in place of popsicle sticks. Leave your spider webs empty or follow the link for different ways to make your own creepy-crawly spiders

Easy Spider Crafts for Kids to Make Explore the best Easy Spider Crafts for Kids to Make; featuring paper spider crafts, spider web crafts for kids, spider crafts for preschoolers and more!

🎒✨ Project Lemonade: Back-to-School Clothing for Foster Youth ✨🎒

The Project Lemonade Store is open year-round to serve foster youth ages 5-24 with free, stylish clothing, shoes, and accessories in a welcoming retail environment! Youth can shop in person or virtually, ensuring they get exactly what they need to feel confident for the new school year.

Located at the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, the store offers items like shoes, tops, pants, backpacks, and more. For those outside the Portland metro area, virtual shopping is available!

Check out the Project Lemonade website for details and to make an appointment.
Visit the store here: https://ow.ly/ayNr50TMTcw

🧠 October 10 is World Mental Health Day 🧠

Did you know that 80% of youth in foster care experience mental health issues, compared to just 18-22% of the general population of children? These challenges often stem from trauma, instability, and separation from their families and communities.

By becoming a foster parent, you can play a crucial role in supporting foster youth. You’ll advocate for their mental health, help them stay connected to their family of origin, and provide a stable, loving environment.

Learn more about becoming a foster parent and making a difference:

Foster Care Program | GOBHI Being a foster parent is an incredibly rewarding—and challenging—experience. Providing a safe home for a youth in foster care can positively change their life!

📢 Don't Miss the 2024 Shoulder to Shoulder Conference! 📢

Have you registered yet? This year’s conference is happening on October 20-21 in Clackamas, OR (with virtual attendance available too!). This multi-disciplinary event is all about providing professional training and strengthening partnerships to support children in the child welfare system.

Whether you’re attending in person or joining online, this is a great opportunity to collaborate, learn, and make a difference.

👉 Register today: https://www.universe.com/events/2024-shoulder-to-shoulder-conference-tickets-RJTN38

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month—a time to increase awareness, promote early detection, and support those affected by breast cancer. Let's come together to spread hope and encourage regular screenings. For more information on how you can support, events calendar, and resources, visit Oregon's Susan G. Komen website. 💗🎗️

Missed our info session on the first Tuesday of the month? No, you didn't! We pushed it back a week due to Labor Day Weekend and the whirlwind that is back to school season, so you can still join us tomorrow (9/10) at 5:30 Pacific, 6:30 Mountain Time!

Join us virtually from anywhere in Oregon and we'll help you decide if our program, as either a full-time or relief home, is a good fit for you. https://www.facebook.com/events/716510997283575/

With school starting up, chances are your kiddo might be a little stressed with the change of schedule and impending homework. Here are some self-care exercises for the month of September that you can try at home for the whole family, courtesy of Action for Happiness and available for download in 24 different languages.

https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar

Foster youth often face challenges like educational instability and high rates of absenteeism, which can affect graduation rates, academic performance, career prospects, and overall quality of life down the road. Check out this resource collection to learn more about how schools can help smooth out these and similar bumps in the road for all youth for higher quality and equitable education in our communities!

www.childwelfare.gov/topics/social-determinants-health/education-access-and-quality/

Becoming a relief parent is a great way to make a difference in your local community, with a lower commitment than full-time fostering but the high quality training and support from GOBHI.

Learn more about our foster care program and start your application today! www.gobhi.org/fc

Registation is open for the 2024 Shoulder to Shoulder Conference, taking place on October 20-21 in Clackamas, OR. (Virtual attendance also available.)

This multi-disciplinary event provides professional training and building stronger partnerships on behalf of youth in the child welfare system. Foster and adoptive parents, kinship caregivers, birth parents, advocates, and more are invited to attend!

Learn more and register here: www.stsconference.com

Empathy is important in a school setting. It helps kids navigate playing with others, interacting with teachers, and dealing with moments that require patience—like waiting for the bell to ring for recess, or going over a math problem they answered incorrectly to learn where they went wrong.

Learn more about how and when kids develop empathy in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJqlEusg1o

GOBHI had a great time at the first ever Eastern Oregon Peer Workforce Conference, hosted at Eastern Oregon University last week. Cheers to all who attended for more insight into resilient and strong self-care culture in behavioral health, and other paths to wellness!

Group photo includes our very own Emily Butler from the Foster Care team, back row second from the left. 💚

Shout out to Every Child Lane County for providing one of the teens in our program with a Launch Box and a queen mattress! She's about to move out on her own and these basic necessities help take some of the stress and uncertainty out of such a big step.

Each year, nearly 1,000 youth in the state of Oregon age out of the foster care system. Volunteers to make more of these kits to support independent living are always welcome! learn more here: https://everychildoregon.org/lane/get-involved/volunteer/launch-boxes/

"Consider this: one out of every four foster youth, upon leaving the foster system, finds themselves grappling with homelessness within four years, and one out of every ten youth from the general population face such adversity annually. ... Half of all young people facing housing instability have had some sort of encounter with the child welfare system."

https://thenext100.org/youth-homelessness-is-giving-many-of-us-an-unequal-start-to-adulthood/

Here's a back to school checklist that might be helpful to consider for your kiddos! This is specifically written to support youth with ADHD, but some of these pieces could benefit anyone preparing for the new school year.

www.additudemag.com/special-needs-back-to-school-checklist-prepare/

Get a Head Start: A Back-to-School Checklist Easy steps that parents and ADHD children can follow now — before classes begin — to ensure a stress-free start of the school year.

Teens and former foster youth share their insights on what it takes to foster and the need for more foster parents.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbsij6Zns-w

Teens Share Their Experience in Foster Care

We don’t believe kids in foster care should ever be defined as ‘foster kids’. They are kids in foster care, through no fault of their own. May they never let that ‘title’ define them. And may they have the opportunity to shoot for and reach their dreams!

A little over a week into National Wellness Month, and we just want to check in. Health and wellness is vital not only to foster youth, but to foster parents as well, to best provide support to their kiddos!

Whether it's new placement anxiety, challenging behavior, frustration when your phone won't connect to the Wi-Fi, or other stressors, take a moment to notice what might be getting between you and your best self and contributing to a supportive environment for the entire family right now. National Wellness Month is a perfect time to focus on self-care, stress management, and healthy routines that support overall well-being.