Parenting children with emotional challenges in foster and adoptive families – a webinar series you don’t want to miss!

Children who experience early loss, whether through relinquishment or neglect, often carry a deep wound of abandonment. Add a severe change in circumstance, perhaps through one or more subsequent homes, and the child can become dizzy from all the disruption. Such children do not usually sit down and say, “Mom, this is what I’m feeling.” The dislocating pain of their experience is not referenced. There is no standard by which to say, “Oh, this is why I’m feeling this way.” In cases of abuse, this adds yet another layer.

The feelings from such experiences may be too painful to acknowledge—even to oneself. Rather than say, “There’s something wrong with me,” it’s easier to say, “There’s something wrong with you,” or “I’m fine” or “I hate you” or “You’re not my real mom” or ‘nothing at all’. But the feelings continue to churn inside, and they are expressed behaviorally if not verbally.

Many of the adoptive and foster families we serve are often trying to navigate these feelings together but sometimes there can be confusion on how best to support their children who have been through some very painful experiences. As parents we want to take our children’s pain away and quickly! But knowing this is not realistic for children and teens processing deep wounds we can often feel defeated and unsure of how we can help our children process their emotions in a healthy way.

During the month of February we will be holding two Strengthening Your Family webinars to address many of serious questions and concerns adoptive and foster families are facing when helping their child or teen process painful experiences and promoting a healing environment inside of the family. Join us as we discuss tools that can help families dealing with difficult feelings begin the healing. Thank you to our partner Jockey Being Family we are able to offer 400 FREE webinar registrations for each live webinar.