First Star Academy at Illinois State successfully completed its inaugural year on the campus of Illinois State University. First Star at Illinois State University is a college preparatory program for high school aged youth who receive foster care services. The program is administered through the Center for Child Welfare and Adoption Studies and led by
Social Work 456: Child and Family Policy is a master’s course designed to explore existing and proposed policies on both a local and federal level that address social issues relating to children and families.
With the help of Illinois State students who lived in the foster care system, the Center for Adoption Studies is looking to build a Foster Youth Scholars program on campus.
Steve Perry, national education expert and contributor for CNN and MSNBC, will be the featured speaker for the 22nd annual African American Advisory Council Institute on June 6.
In late March, a federal district judge declared the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in the state of Michigan. Illinois State’s Jeanne Howard has been actively involved in the court case for more than two years.
School of Social Work Associate Professor Doris M. Houston served as a guest faculty member on behalf of the Administrative Offices of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) April 7 during their 2014 Education Conference in Lombard. Juvenile court judges across the state attended this training as part of their biannual requirements on ethics, professionalism, and judicial conduct.
Doris M. Houston, associate professor in the School of Social Work and associate director of the Center for Adoption Studies, has been selected to serve as a 2013–2014 cohort member of the Illinois State University Leadership Initiative.
Dr. Jeanne Howard from Illinois State’s Center for Adoption Studies has earned the Chairman’s Award from the Department of Children and Family Services African American Advisory Council.
“Foster parents provide a source of stability for a child whose family is vulnerable,” said Doris Houston, associate director of the Center for Adoption Studies at Illinois State,
who is helping to plan the Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize conference. “And opening their homes to these children offers foster parents a wealth of ways to enrich their own lives, while helping an at-risk child.”
