Tag Archives: child welfare

What I would have birth parents hear after the removal of their child

Twenty seven years speaking to children and young people (and care experienced adults) who have been removed from the care of their birth parents due to grossly inadequate care and maltreatment has left me with deep concerns about the impact of parental separation and loss on the developing child, and the capacity for alternate care and therapeutic supports alone to compensate for this. (read more at link) Continue reading

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Why do my kids destroy their belongings?

Destruction of their clothes, toys and other belongings is not necessarily a sign of ingratitude or disrespect. Many children who are recovering from a tough start to life due to abuse and neglect are mistrustful of receiving nice things and … Continue reading

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Why is my child’s room always messy?

Messy bedrooms are not necessarily evidence of a chaotic mind or wilful disobedience. For children who are recovering from a tough start to life due to abuse and neglect or other forms of hardship, it can be a sign that … Continue reading

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Supporting Strong Developmental Outcomes: The case for CARE and Attachment Security

Raising children who have the best chance of achieving their potential involves connection with our task. It involves parenting with intention; thinking about what we are doing, and why. It involves holding the child in our mind; especially their experiences … Continue reading

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More than a spare room: What kids really need from foster carers

I have been thinking about what children and young people who cannot be safely cared for at home need from their foster carers. I want readers to adopt a broad definition of foster for the purposes of this post, including … Continue reading

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A Short Introduction to Attachment and Resilience

I have maintained this blog site or more than ten years. This will be the 250th post published to it. Given the sheer volume of content I have decided to make a post with links to the posts that I … Continue reading

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Is your service trauma-aware, trauma-responsive, or trauma-informed?

Borrowing from ideas underpinning culturally safety in service provision, where a distinction exists between being culturally aware, culturally responsive, and culturally safe, there is worth in distinguishing what is trauma-informed practice, as opposed to trauma aware and responsive. Culturally safe … Continue reading

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Trauma-informed training for foster, adoptive, and kinship carers

This morning I read an interesting narrative review of fifteen evaluation studies of trauma-informed care training for foster and adoptive parents (and kinship carers): Lotty, M, Bantry-White, E, & Dunn-Galvin, A, (2021) Trauma-informed care psychoeducational group-based interventions for foster carers … Continue reading

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Relationships Regulate and Repair

Relational trauma, such as that which occurs as a result of abuse and neglect, impacts three key areas of relational connection: The relational connection a child has with others, including those who care for them; The relational connection the child … Continue reading

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All relationships are important for attachment security

All attachments are significant. All influence our approach to life, roles and relatedness. This is particularly important in child welfare and related endeavours where the focus is facilitating recovery from a tough start to life and traumatic relationships, including through the promotion of attachment security. Continue reading

Posted in AAA Caregiving, Adoption, Attachment, Fostering, kinship care, Parenting, Training Programs, trauma informed, trauma informed care, trauma informed practice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments