We ordered our first bundle of “100-percent treeless” paper this week from one of our favorite “Green” online stores, Alice.com. I didn’t have a clue what our new paper was actually made of, but figured I would find out when it arrived. Although Julie C couldn’t wait and Googled it for me right away. The package also says the paper is 100-percent biodegradable. The paper is made from Sugar cane. It is hypo-allergenic, unscented, and the white paper does not contain dyes. To make you feel even better about buying this truegreen paper, it is priced similar to copy paper made from trees.

If you can’t afford residential treatment for your troubled teenager you are not alone. Most of us cannot and it seems impossible in most states to get either private insurance or adoption subsidy to pay for it. Nobody seems to care that your home and family members may be in danger. That is why I am so excited to tell you about this FREE program that I just learned about, even though they have already had 17,000 graduates. Apparently it is one of the best kept secrets in the country. They lack funding, so they cannot advertise, therefore you can only find out by word of mouth, or a lucky web search. Not every state is lucky enough to have a National Guard Youth Challenge Academy. In fact, ours in Michigan almost got cut in December with budget cuts. Instead, they received half funding, so they can take 115 students instead of 250. The Michigan Youth Challenge Academy has a 70-percent success rate for students graduating and then going on to work jobs and pay taxes. If that doesn’t sound awesome to you, take another look at what it takes to qualify for acceptance to the program.

May is National Foster Care Month. The U.S. Foster care system urgently needs people to support the kids who have experienced abuse and neglect who live in foster care. Foster Club has 31 challenges for you to check out and try to accomplish. The most current federal AFCARS data indicates that over 500,000 children reside in the U.S. foster care system. Most of those children, 40-percent, are between the ages of 13 and 21. Teenagers are the least likely to be adopted and most likely to age out of foster care without a plan of support and without family safety network to fall back on. They can end up homeless, causing them to live risky lifestyles, and some feel forced to commit crimes to survive

If you have adopted a child with FASD, FAE, FAS, or a familial history of mental illness, you need to CYA from day one. Some children seem unaffected by prenatal exposure to drugs and/or alcohol. If that describes your adopted child consider yourself fortunate. However, if your child, like so many other FAS children has learning disabilities, lies and steals without showing real remorse get proof. If repeated disciplinary measures do not modify your child’s behavior get proof. If your adopted child does not seem to learn from mistakes but consistently makes the same bad choices then you need help, don’t wait. While therapy and counseling do not seem to help modify behavior with FAS children, you need mental health professionals to protect you and your family. If you do not want your child on medication, that is your choice, but take your child to see a psychiatrist on a regular basis anyway. Are you offered in-home mental health services, take them, and keep them until your adopted child graduates from high school and moves out. Do you think that because your child came home as an infant you do not need to worry, think again. Do you think that because you raised your child in a religious home, and your child attends private school, you do not need to worry, think again, and CYA..