Connection
A Goal, A Gift, and Maybe a Bit Messy
January 2025 Legislative Spotlight
State Senator Laura Fine – 9th District
As the Senator in the 9th District, I serve as the Chair of the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health committee and Vice-Chair of the Insurance committee. Supporting residents with mental health and health care needs has been my longstanding priority, and my work reflects a focus on facilitating access to quality care, ensuring the state’s insurance marketplace reflects the needs of Illinoisans, reducing barriers for mental health services and addressing workforce shortages.
The Essential Truth About Adoption Grief
The Essential Truth About Adoption Grief: What Parents Need to Know to Support Their Kids
Adoption is often seen as a beautiful story of new beginnings, but the journey actually begins with loss. For many children, adoption or foster care means saying goodbye to their birth family, their sense of home, and sometimes even their identity. While these losses are not immediately visible, they remain deeply felt, shaping how children see themselves and the world around them.
Bold Vision for 2025
Building Stronger Foundations for Children: iCARE4’s Bold Vision for 2025
As we kick off 2025, we’re focusing on making systemic change for children in foster, adoptive, and kinship families. These kids often face unique challenges in school—challenges that go beyond the typical struggles many students face. Trauma, instability, and disrupted attachments impact their academic performance and social-emotional development. At iCARE4, we know that love and care are crucial, but these children need more specialized support to truly thrive.
Guiding Teens to a Stronger Sense of Self
Adoptive teens face unique challenges when it comes to identity, and those struggles can sometimes be misdiagnosed as social anxiety. While both issues involve self-consciousness, fear of judgment, and social withdrawal, it’s crucial to understand how identity confusion can often look like social anxiety—leading to incorrect diagnoses and missed opportunities for healing in adopted and foster children. iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families supports holistic and comprehensive assessments for accurate diagnosis and effective support.