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Performance Excellence: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How the PE Team is Taking Cornerstones of Care to the Next Level
Performance Excellence: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How the PE Team is Taking Cornerstones of Care to the Next Level

16 October 2023

When Cornerstones of Care began its work with out-of-home foster care in 2019, it served 842 clients in Area 5 – Atchison, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. Today, those numbers have dipped below 600 clients receiving out-of-home services – a reduction of almost 30 percent. This hopeful statistic is just...

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Adolescent Substance Use Counselor Teaches Teens to Manage Substance Misuse Through Music
Adolescent Substance Use Counselor Teaches Teens to Manage Substance Misuse Through Music

13 October 2023

Tatum Clark has always been interested in working with adolescents, so when she was given the opportunity to complete her Music Therapy practicum at the Juvenile Detention Center in Springfield, Missouri, she jumped on it. There, she met kids of all ages serving time in the detention center for illegally possessing...

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Getting Real About Workplace Boundaries: A Three-Part Series
Getting Real About Workplace Boundaries: A Three-Part Series

22 September 2023

Part Two – Boundaries with Clients Social service professionals, those who promote the welfare of community members, are everywhere – in schools, offices, mental health clinics, and courtrooms. Some social service professionals find it most effective to provide services in homes, meeting clients in the space where life happens. “When you go...

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Preparing Youth in Foster Care for College: Unlocking Their Potential for a Bright Future
Preparing Youth in Foster Care for College: Unlocking Their Potential for a Bright Future

06 September 2023

For young people in foster care, the path to higher education can be challenging. They may have faced instability and adversity, which could impact their academic journey. They may lack the funds, resources, and support systems to navigate scholarship applications and the entire admissions process. While it may seem early to...

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Intensive In-Home Services Program Offers a Helping Hand to Stroke Survivor
Intensive In-Home Services Program Offers a Helping Hand to Stroke Survivor

30 August 2023

When Tara experienced her first stroke in March 2022, she was in her 17th year of teaching young children how to read. As a literacy specialist for K-6th graders, she drew on her love of writing to help kids overcome their challenges in the classroom – and she loved her...

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Foster Care Isn’t Perfect: Retired Doctor Shares the Joys and Challenges of Fostering Adolescent Boys
Foster Care Isn’t Perfect: Retired Doctor Shares the Joys and Challenges of Fostering Adolescent Boys

03 August 2023

When Timothy Murphy, MD, decided to become a foster parent, he knew that he wanted to provide a home for adolescent boys. It wasn’t just because teenagers, especially teenage boys, are disproportionately represented in the U.S. foster care system, and he wanted to fill a need. Tim chose to foster adolescent...

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Collaborative Care Makes a Transformative Difference at the Ozanam Campus Day Treatment School
Collaborative Care Makes a Transformative Difference at the Ozanam Campus Day Treatment School

25 July 2023

For nearly 50 years, the Ozanam Campus Day Treatment School has been doing things differently to address its students’ unique behavioral and academic challenges. Located on the southern edge of Kansas City, Missouri, the school provides individualized curriculum, small class sizes, and therapeutic support for students in grades 6-12 who have...

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Getting Real About Workplace Boundaries: A Three-Part Series
Getting Real About Workplace Boundaries: A Three-Part Series

18 July 2023

Part One – Work/Home Life Boundaries Like many of us, Cornerstones of Care’s Human Resources Manager Reza Soleymani-Alizadeh used to be pretty lousy at setting boundaries around work. “I was putting in overtime and talking about it proudly,” said Reza. “I was staying up until 10 p.m. doing work and checking emails,...

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