Parents, babysitters, and others...never, ever shake a baby. Shaken Baby Syndrome leads to death in 1/3 of all cases and others end up with lifelong disabilities.

Foster and adoptive parents with years of experience and training know the proper ways to handle a crying baby. They know not to shake an infant.

FACES strongly urges all child-placing agencies to do continual monitoring of children placed in new foster or adoptive parents. It is imperative that continual visits be made to assure child safety and that new parents have the tools to safely care for children. In addition, while background checks and criminal record checks can help to provide a level of assurance that families are safe for children...nothing can replace frequent unannounced and announced visits to the home of new parents. Monitoring and feedback are critical for new foster and adoptive parents, especially if they have never parented before.

FACES, also, recommends that previous foster parents for children (who have provided appropriate care to the child) be encouraged to assist in the transition of the child to a new foster home. The most recent caregivers may have learned strategies for the particular child which could help the new family. Also, the transition period allows the child-placing agency another set of ears and eyes in the new home.

Raising a child takes a village...if you think a child is in danger of shaken baby or any other harmful conditions, please report it to the state Child Protective Services Hotline at 800-552-7096.

Have you been considering a new volunteer challenge? Are you interested in helping children succeed in school? You may want to check out this new article from Wrightslaw about becoming a special education advocate.

Find out about scholarship opportunities for youth from the Orphan Foundation of America and Casey. Deadline for applications is March 31, 2010.

Scholarship opportunities, also, for youth adopted from foster care from the Children's Action Network and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Fostering a Future scholarship program is sponsored by Capital One. Deadline for applications is April 20, 2010. Learn more about the sponsors, Children's Action Network, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Capital One.

FACES of Virginia Families Launches Open Arms Initiative

(RICHMOND), Virginia –  FACES of Virginia Families, a non-profit support association has established the Open Arms Initiative as an effort to assist families in adopting children from the Virginia foster care system, and assist children currently in the system find a family that might be of interest to them.

In 2007, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) began the development and implementation of the Response to Intevention (RTI) program. The RTI is a comprehensive student-centered assessment and intervention model used to identify and address individual student difficulties before referral to special education. In using the RTI approach, students receive research-based intervention and assessment. Rather than waiting for a student to fail, interventions and assessments are designed to meet the needs of each student with individualized instruction.