From Trauma to Healing: The Role of Therapy in Foster Care
In this day and age of our social systems being “trauma-informed,” I’m often surprised as I hear others continue to label children in foster care as “good” or “bad.”
As a parent, caregiver, or case manager goes on to describe the child, it is inevitable that a “good” child in foster care means that they exhibit very little behaviors or needs. In contrast, a “bad” child in foster care has behaviors that are very demanding, aggressive, mentally unstable, or some other physical or emotional need not consistent with their chronological age.
As a foster and adoptive parent for over a decade, I understand how we quickly use those terms to communicate the situation and needs of a child to others, but it also breaks my heart to know that is our default. The quiet child who is obedient, relatively stable, and can blend in with others is processing just as much trauma as the child who is responding outwardly to let all of us in on the tumultuous highs and lows of processing trauma at every moment.
Multiple providers serve foster families at the Joy Meadows Community Center, making scheduling simpler for multiple kids and therapy needs.
As caregivers in this space, we don’t need to wait for an outward expression of trauma or behaviors that we can comprehend before we ensure that children in our care are given the opportunity for therapy.
It’s not a matter of IF they need that support and intervention. It’s just a matter of WHEN the need will be displayed for others to see.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, for children in foster care,
“Childhood trauma takes many forms — abuse and neglect; death of a parent (foster or birth) or kin; severe chronic illness of a parent (foster or birth) or kin; ongoing absence of a parent (foster or birth) or kin; significant impairment of parenting skills (often because of parental mental illness, substance abuse, or cognitive impairment); exposure to criminal activity or violence in home and neighborhood…as well as poverty, housing and food insecurity.”
Even setting aside the traumatic experiences that brought a child into foster care, let’s look at what the limited experience of entering into care involved, which can itself cause trauma:
Sudden loss of known relationships
New home, relationships, routines, food
Uncertain future or timeline
Separation from siblings
New school
Loss of predictable patterns and outcomes
Identity
Just to name a few.
Foster parents can play a crucial role in helping connect children in their care with the essential tools and resources for healing by offering a safe and stable environment, emotional support, relational connection, and advocating for mental health early in placement.
Bailey Jacobs, LPC, one of the therapy providers at Joy Meadows added these insights when asked, “Why do children in care need therapy?”
Children in foster care can benefit from therapy because it gives them a safe place to land each week, knowing they will be understood without having to explain anything. Something unique about therapy in the context of foster care is that the therapist can offer the child space to make sense of all that is happening. A confused child (or teen or adult) is a dysregulated child (or teen or adult). When we can make sense of what is happening, our brains and bodies can relax. When our brains and bodies are relaxed, we aren’t relying on maladaptive ways of getting our needs met. One of the most confusing things in the world for a child is being removed from their caregivers—words aren’t enough to explain these types of events to a child.
Trauma-focused therapy offers tools and skills kids need to understand their story and what’s happening to them. Trauma-focused therapists are safe, non-anxious, non-judgemental humans who can connect with kids in care and help them make sense of what they’ve experienced. Sessions often work as “translation time”—where the child can have all that has happened from the week translated back to them in a way that their young brain can understand.
Therapy at Joy Meadows
Multiple therapy providers have second offices at the Joy Meadows Community Center, making scheduling simple for multiple kids and needs.
Family Mentors partner with caretakers to engage kids as needed while others are in sessions.