By Christy Barritt

Foster Mother Receives Financial Gift

A foster mother living in California received a tremendous gift for her life’s work.

Alena Strickland of Downey has fostered more than 200 children, many of them with mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. She started fostering when her infant daughter was hospitalized more than 27 years ago. While at the hospital, Strickland bonded with an abandoned, terminally ill baby. She arranged to take the infant home so the child would have a family during her final days. Strickland has adopted 14 of her foster children, and she has three biological children.

Strickland recently received a $50,000 award from “5-hour ENERGY Helps Amazing People” for her work to better the lives of these children. Strickland wants to use the money to start an elementary school at the Dream Center in Los Angeles for homeless children in the area.

Cool Kids More Likely to Be Criminals Later

A new study on adolescents claims that kids who are considered cool at a young age are later in life more likely to have issues with alcohol and substance abuse, as well as difficulty maintaining intimate relationships. The study included research on the long-term effects of what’s called pseudomature behavior, which occurs when kids imitate seemingly adult behavior.

According to the study, which was published in the journal Child Development, kids who focused on physical appearance when choosing friends, who engaged in minor delinquent behavior, and who were romantically involved starting at a young age were also more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life.

The study’s authors said that this pseudomature behavior may not only predict future problems but also the development of more serious adjustment problems over long periods of time. The kids who were most likely to exhibit such behaviors, according to the study, were those who placed the greatest importance on being popular.

Irish Government Seeks Answers About Deaths of Infants

Officials in Ireland are investigating a “mother and baby” home which operated between 1925 and 1962, run by the Roman Catholic Church. Researchers discovered records that showed 796 children, mostly infants, mostly from unmarried mothers, died there.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that for decades, children born out of wedlock were treated as “an inferior subspecies.” This discovery pointed to a dark history of how children were treated during that time.

There are four other investigations in Ireland concerning the cover-up of child abuse at industrial schools by priests in Dublin, Cork, and the county of Wexford, according to the Associated Press.

The Irish Catholic Bishops Conference said that it welcomes the investigation and apologizes to anyone hurt by its past system.

Texas Megachurch Launches New Amazon Fire Channel

There’s a new faith-based television station on the Amazon Fire TV. Community Bible Church of San Antonio, Texas, launched a TV app in June. The church has around 14,000 members, as well as 16,000 online followers.

The television endeavor was part of the church’s outreach mission. “These connected TV devices allow us to accomplish our mission in a unique way,” Nils Smith, innovation pastor at the church, told The Christian Post. He also said that he hopes to reach millions of televisions in the next few years through Roku, Amazon, and other connected TV devices.

The San Antonio Business Journal reported that the app will allow guests to log onto its online church 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in English or Spanish.

Christy Barritt is an award-winning author, freelance writer, and speaker living in Chesapeake, Virginia. She and her husband Scott have two sons.
www.christybarritt.com