A landmark 12-year longitudinal study reframes what your organization can do—and why it matters. Many staff members and leaders in youth-serving organizations carry a quiet tension. They engage with the ACE research, they understand the cumulative weight of adverse childhood experiences on the children and…
You probably didn’t expect parenting to feel like a siege. You opened your home, your life, and your heart. And then you waited — for connection, for trust, for the moment when something finally shifted. Maybe you’re still waiting to see your kids healing from…
Let's be honest. Some days our homes feel like a reality TV show nobody asked to audition for. The dog knocks over the laundry. Your child has a meltdown over the color of their cup. You realize — at 7:45 a.m. — that it's…
If you are a Plan B parent, you have probably had a version of this moment: you are watching your child struggle—with trust, with relationships, with behavior that seems to come out of nowhere—and a quiet fear settles in. What if the things that happened…
Every year on March 14th, people around the world observe National Write Your Story Day — a simple invitation to write about what’s on your mind. Founded in 2017, the day is a reminder to Plan B families that helping our children reclaim their stories…
As a full circle foster child, foster care worker and foster/adoptive parent, the life I have had has not been a walk-in-the-park. I lived many days as a child scrounging for food and facing shame in foster homes of other broken caregivers and youth. For…
A groundbreaking new study tells us that kids with ADHD may not be destined to a life of difficulties after all. We’ve watched kids bounce off the walls during homework time, interrupt at the dinner table, lose their jacket for the fourth time this month,…
We seem to be shifting into a new type of society that’s facing our kids. Often our anxieties and fears will hide our views of what opportunities still sit firmly in our hands. We are easily influenced when what we once thought was in our…
It's very common for our kids who are close to graduation to start hearing the question, “So, what are you going to do next?” The query usually strikes fear into the hearts of many high school and college graduates because many have absolutely…
I am thankful I failed. So often we hear of failure as if it is a bad thing! It’s not! Not giving life a “good fight” with the chance of failure, now that can lead to a purposeless life. Giving up won’t get you anywhere. But, stepping…
Another problem that we can face with traumatized children is that they can become the bully in a given situation. Children who have suffered trauma, particularly violent trauma, can learn the message that they have to be the one in power to avoid abuse. Or they…
October is National Bullying Prevention Month, a good time to think about one of the toughest challenges our kids may face. For parents of children who've endured trauma—whether from abuse, loss, or upheaval in their early lives—the conversation hits…