Word from Susan Silverman, Spring 2022

Dear Friends!

This spring newsletter I wanted to start with a thank you note.

Thank you for making all the things you are reading about in this newsletter possible. The word inspiration always felt a little schmaltzy to me, and not really specific enough to be sincere. So I will say that throughout my meetings all day, I am constantly whispering “wow”.

“Wow” to the professionals at our social service partners who are day to day working with teens who have been trafficked, are parenting their own young children, or are on probation. Professionals who are fighting to keep siblings together, to find an adolescent or teen or Transition Age Youth the support and love and person to say: “I see you”; that's what we all need. Fighting to find a safe and loving home for a child whose primary family needs some time. Fighting to bring as much dignity as possible to the life of a child who is moved from one place to another unfamiliar place with their belongings in trash bags.

I am whispering “wow” to the clergy and other leaders who are creating communities in which families are supported to step up and foster successfully, teary “wows” to the families who are welcoming these young people into their homes and hearts, and a huge “wow” to the foundations who are thinking and acting strategically for the sake of each child and, as a result, for a better society. Last, but not the least, a “wow” to you, who has supported this work generously and lovingly.

I am now starting a bi-monthly blog on our website with brief thoughts I'd like to share from a personal perspective on the world of foster care. See the first installment here.

Susan Silverman, CEO

We count days until we can be with loved ones—kids in foster care always count the days Spring 2020

As we “Count the Omer”, the days between Passover and Shavuot, we are struck with an irony: Shavuot is both the only Jewish holiday that has a ritualized count leading to it, yet it is also the only holiday mentioned in the Torah that is not assigned a specific date. That is a metaphor for our struggle with the coronavirus. It is also a metaphor for youth in the foster care system waiting for families, who are always counting the days with no promise of the family for which they long.

Even as local governments greatly limit their services during this unprecedented time, Second Nurture is ramping up our work at four of our eight new partner communities in LA County via remote introductory sessions and agency orientations.

We are also continuing to support our families in our thriving Wilshire Blvd Temple cohort who are in lockdown with their children, waiting for their children to come home, or in painful limbo as their adoption finalizations are postponed: holding remote bagel brunches where we gather to share a meal and talk through challenges and connecting in other ways such as remote trauma-informed yoga with the talented Kate O’Hara of Thriving Tree Yoga LLC.

Meanwhile, Susan is hard at work improving the Jewish educational materials. The Dave Thomas Foundation renewed their generous support to bring the resources we created (through their generosity) last year to a new level—professionally designed, web-friendly and branded. We are also thrilled to report that we have exceeded our goal to raise the $60k needed to trigger the second year donation of the generous Benmosche three-year commitment. Another generous grant from the Aviv Foundation helped us meet that goal.

We are having similar success in Columbus, receiving a renewed grant from Mentor Central Ohio, and a new grant from the Ohio Council for the Arts, to fund our collaborative effort to create a mentorship community for Transitional Age Youth (TAY) at the Harmony Project from Star House’s Carol Stewart Village, and the professional expertise of Starfish Alliance to guide us. When social isolation measures are lifted, the new mentors will be ready to welcome the youth into the Harmony Project Choir.

In these months, we are all counting the days—both to a safe freedom from isolation and, for Jews, to Shavuot to mark the moment God gave us the Torah at Mt. Sinai. But none of us h9lds the longing of the children and teens in foster care who count the days until their own Sinai, their own covenant of belonging, with no marked date to believe in.

Black Mitzvah—and More Mitzvahs—in LA Winter 2019-20

Subject Line: Black Mitzvah—and More Mitzvahs—in LA

Dear Friends:

The days are getting longer—as are our growing list of adoptive families and communities that want to become Second Nurture partners!

At Wilshire Boulevard Temple, we now have 16 families who want to foster and adopt. Eleven have children at home, five of whom have now adopted their foster children. And we are growing LA County-wide as well. We are expanding our work to eight more Jewish communities, have started information sessions to recruit foster families and are thrilled with the interest we have found. Stay tuned for the official partnership announcements after Passover!

In February, we held our first educational roundtable with rabbis and Jewish educators in LA to test our educational materials that lift up and link the themes of fostering and adoption with Jewish lives today. As one rabbi said at the end of the session, “This text study is so important. It’s not just an announcement about fostering and adopting, we are engaging in a deep way.” In 2020, we are planning more roundtables and will hold them this spring in Chicago and Boston. Please let us know if you are interested in joining these events.

In case you missed it, Second Nurture founder and Executive Director officiated the bat mitzvah for Tiffany Haddish, Second Nurture’s newest board member, in December, the same day Haddish turned 40 years old and released her new Netflix comedy special, “Black Mitzvah.”

Finally, we want to thank all of you that have generously supported our work. We are well on our way pleased to raising the funds we need to secure a 3-to-1 match from our board member and generous donor Nehama Benmosche. Your combined support has allowed us to grow in LA—and we look forward to telling you about our wonderful new foster and adoptive families as they grow!