The Voices of Child Advocates of Fort Bend FEBRUARY 2024

TheVOICES of

Inside / CEO Update • Serving African American Children in Foster Care • Staff and Board Updates • Gala and MORE!

February 2024

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contents NEWS + FEATURES

03 FROM THE CEO CEO Ruthanne Mefford shares what we are up to this month

05 UNDER CONSTRUCTION Our final expansion project has begun!

06 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

6 Keeping you informed on our mission: Strengthen the Child's Voice, Heal the Hurt, and Break the Cycle of Abuse and Neglect for Children in Fort Bend and surrounding counties.

SERVING AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE 8 ONCE UPON A TIME GALA Learn what we are planning and how you can get involved!

9 SPOTLIGHTS See what we've been doing this month training, staff updates, new board members and MORE!

15 LEAP INTO PREVENTION We’d love to talk to your group

17 NEEDS + OPPORTUNITIES Check out what we need this month and how you can help us

9

15 15

MONTHLY SPOTLIGHTS

LEAP INTO PREVENTION

See what we’ve been doing!

We’re out in the community!

19 SAVE THESE DATES Save these dates and plan to join us for these upcoming events

5403 AVENUE N ROSENBERG, TX 77471 281-344-5100

WWW.CAFB.ORG

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from the ceo

Welcome to our February issue!

This month, we recognize Black History Month and what that means for children served by Child Advocates of Fort Bend. Here are some statistics that may surprise you.

Black children are significantly overrepresented in the child welfare system nationally. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Black children were three times more likely to die from abuse or neglect than White children.

For years, child-welfare agencies, family courts and various advocacy organizations have looked to fix racial disparities in the system. A new study from the Journal of Pediatric Surgery shows Black families are more likely to be investigated than their White peers, investigations involving Black children are more likely to be substantiated and Black children are more likely to be removed from their families into the fostercare system.

As child advocates, we have a duty to ensure that the “best interests” of children of all races and ethnicities are served. Last year, 40% of the children served in our CASA program and 33% in our Children’s Advocacy Center were Black or multi-racial. While we cannot control which children are investigated or removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, we can impact their experience while in the child welfare system. Our commitment is to doing whatever we can so that children thrive while in care, CASA staff and volunteers are educated in cultural competency trainings and advocates and staff work closely with children’s families of origin to engage them in these children’s lives through innovative tools like Collaborative Family Engagement. Staff and advocates in our CASA program are trained in Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a trauma-informed care methodology to recognize and respond to the impact of

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trauma on children including children of color.

Therapists and clinicians in our CAC use trauma-informed therapies and crisis tools to help children and families of color. Clinical family advocates access resources to support our Black families from financial assistance to social services. Aging-out youth are provided with lifeskills training and we help them create Lifetime Support Networks and Circles of Trust so they can break the cycle of generational abuse. And family reunification is the primary goal of our cases by recognizing that children do better when they are with family.

As we celebrate the racial diversity of the children and families we serve, we are devoting this issue of VOICES to share with you the special programs and services we provide for our Black children and families to strengthen their voices, heal their hurt and break the cycle of abuse and neglect.

For the Children's Sake,

Ruthanne Ruthanne Mefford, CEO

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Under Construction

Our Wellness Garden, Playing Field and Expanded Parking Lot construction project has begun! We are excited for this final expansion of our For the Children’s Sake Capital Campaign.

Over the past few years, we purchased two parcels of land adjacent to our property.

After 3 years of planning, supply chain delays and Covid, we are ready to expand our services.

The Wellness Garden will provide a mental health retreat for staff and clients. With the secondary traumatic stress that occurs from hearing stories of abuse every day and working intensely with children experiencing multi-symptomatic trauma, an outdoor nature and wellness space will bring great benefits to the health and emotional wellness of our staff and help children with their healing. The Wellness Garden will incorporate the five senses to create an environment that nourishes, relaxes, refreshes, and provides a retreat for selfcare. Features of the Garden will be a cedar archway entrance to serve as a threshold as

one enters the park, a healing circle for meditation and breathing, water feature for sound and soothing, a hands-on herb and vegetable garden for growth, smell and taste, and flowering and aromatic plants for smell and color, flagstone sitting walls and retaining wall for relaxation, and a cedar pergola to provide shade and a space for yoga exercise. Plants and turf will be low maintenance for minimal upkeep.

A Playing Field adjacent to the Garden will provide an open area to engage children in exercise, group activities and sports. This section will intentionally be kept clear of landscaping and other elements so that children can play games, sports, and exercise for their physical and mental health.

The entire park will be gated and surrounded by 8’ fencing for security and privacy.

Naming opportunities for benches, pavers, planters, a pavilion, and more are currently available. Please contact Lisa Moore Lmoore@cafb.org for more information.

Serving African American Children in Foster Care

By Metoyer Martin

The start of February marks the beginning of Black History Month, a time to honor and recognize the accomplishments and history of Black Americans. As we continue into this month and consider history, we must ask ourselves how all of us can contribute to racial equality, and work to address disproportionalities and disparities that negatively impact Black communities.

system itself reflects inequities in our society.

Two current problems within the Texas foster care system are racial disproportionality and disparity. Disproportionality means a particular race or cultural group is over-represented in a system, and disparity refers to the differences in outcomes and conditions for some groups of people compared to other groups because of unequal treatment or services.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteers advocate to ensure the best interests and well-being for a child or sibling group once they enter foster care. Each volunteer is specially appointed by a judge to advocate for a child, helping them during their time in foster care by ensuring they are kept safe, and their unique needs are met. Child Advocates of Fort Bend recruits, screens, and trains these volunteers.

While Black children account for around 12% of the Texas child population, they currently make up around 21.5% of the Texas foster care population. According to Texas CASA and DFPS, CPS is more likely to receive reports of abuse and neglect regarding Black families than white families and to remove Black children from their homes. After a removal has occurred, disparities within the system begin to emerge. After removal, a Black child is less likely to be reunified with their family of origin, and they are less likely to be adopted within 12 months.

CASA volunteers advocate within the Texas foster care system, and we recognize that the

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CASA volunteers can have a significant impact in ensuring children’s families are allowed to maintain involvement in their lives while going through the system. We train our advocates to take cultural needs into consideration as well as always looking at family first to meet the placement needs of children. Child Advocates of Fort Bend was selected to introduce Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) in our program in 2015. This initiative is a systemic approach to engage families and support them in significant ways to best serve children and youth in the child welfare system. It is an effort to confront and reduce the number of children affected by multiples moves and placements, long stays in care, grief and loss of connections – and give every child a sense of belonging and a chance at finding and keeping meaningful relationships with family members and loved ones. CFE is one of several resources utilized by our advocates and staff to address issues of disproportionality and disparities faced by Black children in the child welfare system.

Our volunteers continue to receive training on disproportionality and cultural competency, and our organization is always looking for ways to improve how we serve the most vulnerable children and families in our community.

We do not limit celebrations of Black history to February or limit our concern and action about issues like disproportionality and disparity to one month. Black history is an essential part of American history and issues facing the Black community are issues facing us, and our neighbors, friends and family everyday.

Resources for communities

African

American

It’s important to recognize the racial trauma that some children and families experience in their everyday lives and as they navigate the road to healing from abuse and neglect. The EMPOWER Lab stands for "Engaging Minorities in Prevention, Outreach, Wellness, Education, & Research". Within this context, The EMPOWER Lab aims to reduce mental health disparities through increasing engagement in mental health treatment, community outreach, education and training, and research focusing on the Black community. Specifically, Dr. Metzger is interested in improving mental health (anxiety, depression, PTSD) treatment outcomes for African American youth exposed to interpersonal and racial trauma.

Dr. Metzger has a wide range of resources for parents to use when teaching their children about racial trauma and for professionals looking to support African American clients.

Helping Children Cope with Racial Stressors https://www.drishametzger.com/racialtrauma-guide#6 Care Package for Racial Healing https://www.drishametzger.com/carepackage-for-racial-healing Public Health Awareness of Racial Trauma https://www.drishametzger.com/publichealth-campaign

SAVE THE DATE and make plans to join us for our Once Upon a Time Gala for the Children. We are hard at work planning an amazing evening. Start thinking about festive dress – Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella just to name a few of the fun story books that will be a part of our festive evening!

Want to be a part of this fun event?

Please see the following for our current needs: 1) LIVE & VIP ITEMS Destination trips to include second homes, time shares, hotel contacts, airline points Tickets to Sporting Events or the Theater Exclusive and rare liquor or wine, single or collections 2) SILENT AUCTION ITEMS Memorabilia, Spa items, golf green fees, golf lessons Themed baskets such as gardening, movie night, summer, wine/liquor with specialty food Think NEW items that you would like to donate to a good cause – we will build a basket!

3) SPONSORSHIP/TICKETS WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, Share with your friends Check out our website here for Sponsorship information Round up your friends and purchase tickets starting March 1 4) GIFT CARDS Donations of restaurant/retail gift cards valued at $25 or more. These will be used for our mystery gift card pull. For a $50 chance, our guests have the potential to win a gift card valued up to $150!

Did you get a gift card you don’t fancy? Please consider donating to us today!

5) WINE/SPIRITS Back and better than ever, we need donations of red and white bottles of wine and Spirits, valued at $35 to $200! Our guests take a $50 chance to win a bottle to take home 6)AUCTION VOLUNTEER We need volunteers to help secure auction items, help us out the night of the Gala and with the set up on Friday, April 26th. Please consider helping with our biggest fundraiser of the year! Contact Tarina Sheridan, TSheridan@cafb.org for more information or to sign up today!

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monthly spotlights Training, Gala and MORE!

Conflict Resolution Training Special thanks to Judge Walter Armatys for providing training to staff on Conflict Resolution Skills. We are grateful for Judge A’s expertise and the practical skills he shared with is this morning!

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Youth Mental Health First Aid Our continuing education calendar kicked off January with Youth Mental Health First Aid. Our collaboration with Texana Center enabled our staff and volunteers to participate in this important training. YMHFA teaches how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adolescent ages 12-18 and helps build skills and confidence to reach out and provide initial support to young people who are struggling. Child Advocates of Fort Bend is proud to be part of the mental health movement!

SPOTLIGHT

Giving Back: Thank YOU Benny and Smita Singh!

Special thanks to Benny and Smita Singh for thinking of CAFB and the children we serve during their Lohri festival. For the second year they have requested their friends donate to CAFB in lieu of gifts. They raised $1,680 in addition to having a wonderful celebration.

Lohri is celebrated primarily by Sikhs and Hindus and marks the end of the winter solstice and harvesting of the rabi crops. The festival is celebrated every year on January 13 with much enthusiasm and zeal. We are grateful for the support the Singh family shares with their friends and community.

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The Forever Angels Legacy Society was created to formally recognize donors who choose to honor Child Advocates of Fort Bend with a gift or bequest from their estate. Why is a strong Planned Giving Program important to CAFB? Studies show organizations with robust legacy programs are better positioned to plan for the future and to weather tough economic storms along the way.

Three simple steps to make a bequest:

One of the biggest misconceptions about planned giving is that it requires donors to dip into their working capital and liquid assets. Because none of us know how many birthdays we will have, we don’t know how much money we will need to live out our lives? Understandably, we want to be careful stewards of our funds. To set the record straight, nearly 90% of all planned gifts are bequests which require no outlay of funds during the donor’s lifetime.

3. Return the form (and make a copy!)

Charitable bequests can often be a percentage of an estate’s assets—such as a life insurance policy, retirement fund, or annuity.

1. Call your retirement plan administrator, insurance company, bank or financial institution and request a “change of beneficiary” form.

2. Decide what percentage (1 to 100) you would like to donate to CAFB, then write this on the form.

Bequests aren’t permanent and can be changed at any time during the donor’s lifetime. Our planned giving representative (Plannedgiving@cafb.org) can provide further information and help prepare questions to ask your financial advisor to determine what type of planned gift might be right for you. All planned gift donors will be prominently honored (if they so desire) on our upcoming “Forever Angels Legacy Society” donor wall. We hope you will consider becoming a “Forever Angel” to let your legacy…. become their future.

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STAFF UPDATE:

Metoyer Martin different ways. With this new focus, we are introducing a new position in the agency, Sr. Director of Strategic Programs and Services.

Metoyer Martin, our most tenured staff member at 18 years, has been promoted into this new role. Congratulations, Metoyer!

Child Advocates of Fort Bend started with the CASA program in 1991. We began with one service of providing advocacy for children in foster care. Over the past 33 years, we have expanded to 18 services over 3 programs. With the expansion of our work, we want to make sure every child that is served by our agency receives every service available to them. To ensure we provide that opportunity, we are focusing on crossfunctional services in the agency. Our CASA and Children’s Advocacy Center clients are unique and have different needs. Each program can serve the children’s needs in

In collaboration with the executive team, the Sr. Director of Strategic Programs and Services is responsible for developing and delivering strategic and cross-functional program planning to ensure key activities and resources are appropriately directed towards achievement of Child Advocates of Fort Bend’s business model and strategic objectives. The Sr. Director of Strategic Programs and Services develops and implements strategies to ensure that agency initiatives and programs reinforce the agency’s mission, core values, and culture.

This position manages, supports training and development, recruitment and retention, and coaching for the CASA and Children’s Advocacy Center program directors.

This exciting new role will ensure every child has access and the opportunity to receive every service they need through Child Advocates of Fort Bend.

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STAFF UPDATE:

Kristy Gutierrez Kristy Gutierrez was recently named Director of Program Services for the CAC. Before becoming Director, Kristy was the Manager of Forensic Interviewing and represented the agency as the Human Trafficking Care Coordinator. She started her career at Child Advocates as a Bilingual Forensic Interviewer 9 years ago.

Children‘s Advocacy Center (CAC) Director of Program Services

Her passion and drive in the child abuse field started with Texas Department of Protective Services where she worked in the Family Based Safety Services unit.

Kristy has a Bachelors and Master’s in Criminal Justice. Kristy is a member of the Fort Bend County DA Human Trafficking Team where the focus is on prevention and education throughout the community.

Congratulations to Kristy!

Are you interested in joining our team? We have openings.

Click here for more information or to apply today.

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WELCOME TWO NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS!

Church, Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance and worked in Corporate America. Currently she is Founder and CEO of Leap Coaching and Speaking Consultants, LLC. She is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for Goodwill Houston Board of Directors and is the Chair of the Business Advisory Council.

She has also served boards for the New Faith Church Capital Campaign doing Fundraising, Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance on the Finance Committee, and Board of Directors for the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce where she served on the social media and website committee.

Elexa Orrange-Allen Elexa is graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, is a long-time resident of Fort Bend County and currently resides in Rosenberg Texas. Over the past 30 years, she has volunteered for

Elexa is interested in serving on our Board of Directors because she has lived her life embracing opportunities to serve others and making a positive difference. She hopes to contribute to CAFB in meaningful ways including Strategic Planning, Audit & Finance, Business Development, Leadership, Coaching, Training, Communication, Board Governance, and Public Speaking.

Tricia was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She has been in real estate for over 25 years, is the founder of the Tricia Turner Group and an associate broker for REAL Broker.

She has been a Voices for Children Ambassador for several years and admires the passion and commitment that so many other board members share. She has a passion for the mission, is comfortable in front of a crowd and always strives to be authentic and genuine.

Currently, Tricia is a member of the Advisory Board for Texana, a Board member of the Fulshear Katy Chamber of Commerce and is a director at large for Service League Katy Fulshear.

Tricia Turner

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Leap into Prevention

By Lindsey Castellanos, Community Outreach Coordinator

Did you know that 90% of children are abused by someone they know and their family trusts? Children are empowered to help keep themselves safe in a variety of ways during a Child Safety Matters presentation. We teach skills to help children recognize risky or uncomfortable situations.

We give them tools and language that will help them tell a safe adult to get help.

In addition to educating students, we have resources for parents and educators to enhance conversations with students. These tools help children and adults open

communication to prevent children from harm. Topics we cover include child abuse and neglect, bullying, cyberbullying, internet safety, and safe adults. All of our presentations use the best research for developmentally appropriate ways to present to students.

Spring is a great time to book a Child Safety Matters presentation for your school. We have many dates and times still available.

Please email Casey Davis at Cdavis@cafb.org to schedule your presentation today, or for more information!

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our needs This month, we have immediate need for: Snack bags: individual serving bags of goldfish, teddy grahams, and fruit snacks in a sandwich baggies We also need the following for our kids in therapy: Wreck This Journal (20 needed) Oh, The Places You‘ll Go! book (20 needed) Additional items can be found on our WISH LIST

Are you looking for a way to honor or memorialize someone you love?

Your $500 or $1,000 gift can purchase a paver in our front walkway and have it engraved with your personalized message!

(We love reading them as we walk in each day.)

If you have already purchased a paver, we thank you!

Donate online at https://www.cafb.org/donate/purchasing-a-room-or-a-paver/ and someone will contact you to discuss your inscription.

For more information, please contact Lisa Moore at Lmoore@cafb.org

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save these dates February 13, 2024 Darkness to Light Training 10am - 10m Child Advocates of Fort Bend Office

February 27, 2024 Faith Leaders Brunch 10am - noon Child Advocates of Fort Bend Office Contact Casey at CDavis@cafb.org

February 27, 2024 Sip & Stroll 5:30pm - 7pm Contact Lisa at LMoore@cafb.org to reserve your spot

March 22, 2024 Trauma Informed Care Conference 9am -1pm Rosenberg Civic Center 3825 TX-36, Rosenberg, TX 77471 Contact Dana at DMersiovsky@cafb.org to reserve your spot

March 26, 2024 Sip & Stroll 5:30pm - 7pm Contact Lisa at LMoore@cafb.org to reserve your spot

month

April is

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION

April 5, 2025 Light of Hope 7pm Sugar Land Town Square

“"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr