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Presented By:
Jeanette Yoffe, MFT
info@celiacenter.org
Agenda:
 I Introduction: Attachment
 II Grief and Loss
 III Trauma
 IV Neuroscience of Trauma & Brain Effects
 V Special Needs of Foster Youth & Adoptees
 VI Interventions
 VII Inner Life Revealed
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 2
INDEX CARD ACTIVITY
 4 cards per person
 Write on card # 1 Favorite Food as a child
 Write on Card #2 Favorite Person as a child
 Write on Card #3 Favorite Place as a teen
 Write on Card #4 Mom or Dad’s name
 Often we have saved foster/adopted children
from abuse/neglect but we have failed to
recognize that they still carry with them
their feelings and memories of their
biological families...
 To truly understand a foster child or
adoptee, we must get into their world! Then
and only then we just may begin to
understand their behaviors!
 Today we will take a journey together into
their world through their eyes!
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 4
Watch 12 minute Film
ReMoved
www.vimeo.com/73172036
Just so you know…
“It’s my fault”, so I will apologize a
lot and see Myself AS… Bad
 Stupid
 Worthless
 Unworthy
 Unwanted
 Not good enough
 Deserving misfortune
 Lacking control
 Shame of being different
 Incomplete
I’m sorry… I may perceive YOU AS…
 Violent
 Cruel
 Rejecting
 Unpredictable
 A risk
 Not to be trusted
 Better than me
 Mean
 Overwhelming me with love…ugh!
I will Maintain Safety BY…
 Denying thoughts and feelings
 Silence
 Avoiding eye contact
 Rejecting you first, especially your affection
 Lying
 Arguing for long periods of time
 Holding on and letting go
 Dissociating
 Testing you over and over
 People pleasing
 Manipulating, being defensive, oppositional and angry
 Hurting you or myself “with my words or my hands!”
Some Things I want you to Know…
1. I have suffered a profound loss before I came to you.
You are not responsible.
2. I need to be taught that I have special needs arising
from foster care and/or adoption loss of which I need
not be ashamed.
3. If I don’t grieve my loss, my ability to receive love
from you and others will be hindered.
4. I need your help grieving my loss.
5. Teach me how to get in touch with my feelings about
my foster care/adoption experience and validate
them.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
Some Things I want you to Know…
1. I need to know the truth about my conception, birth,
and family history, no matter how painful the details
may be.
2. Birthdays may be difficult for me.
3. When I act out my fears in obnoxious ways, please
hang in there with me, and respond wisely.
4. Even if I decide to search for my birth family, I will
always want you to be my parents.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
Part I
Alan Schore
From the Womb to 24 months
Film 5 minutes start at 41-46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
KW-S4cyEFCc#t=1
Types of Attachment I may have…
 If I have a Secure attachment….
 I become distressed by our separation.
 I can direct my anger at you, because I know we are
safe, and I know your not going anywhere….!
 I can be settled by your attempts to soothe me.
 I know I’m loveable and worthy.
 Now you can discipline me because I trust and
understand our relationship is secure and your
teaching me how to be the best me!
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 13
I may be Avoidant at times…
 What if I have Avoidant attachment?
 I have minimal response to our separation.
 I avoid turning to you for help, I’m going to minimize your
importance to me.
 I have an implicit claim of strength and independence.
 To get close is to be rejected; to truly separate is to be rejected.”
 I need your supportive attunement and positive experience of
me…can you look at me a lot like gazing?, can you show me you
love me with and without words?, can you have empathy for my
feelings?, can you take turns with me?, it’s not all about what
you want, let’s negotiate sometimes….can you match my affect-
so I know you hear me and I exist?, can you repeat my words so I
know you get me….?
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 15
I may be anxious and ambivalent…
 What if I have an Anxious/Ambivalent attachment?
 I DO become distressed by our separation.
 However, I’m unable to be soothed by you.
 I can be either passively overwhelmed or angrily preoccupied usually
with my toys or activities, that’s how you’ll know.
 I rely on you to make all of my choices and and I minimize my need to
be self-reliant. You just do everything because I just can’t even deal “I’m
so anxious and ambivalent!!!”
 To be close to you feels smothering, to be separate feels abandoned. I’m
just screwed either way!!!!
 I need you in supporting me and help me take charge, be the leader,
give me clarity, explain everything to me and let me know the purpose
and that I have purpose, take interest in my exploration of the world
even if it’s crazy, accept our differences and my imagination, honor our
separate experiences, be clear with me, explain things concretely and
make sure I get what you are saying so we are on the same page.
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 18
I need your help badly…
 What is Disorganized attachment?
 I become very fearful when you are not here for me, and when I reach for
you, you are not there…. I just can’t take it, I can’t do this all by
myself…I’m terrified!!!
 I feel helpless! I keep calling for you, you scare me over and over, you
don’t know how to help me either, your helpless too…
 I will do this on my own. No one will ever understand me. I cannot share
this with anyone…. I will only feel more terror, more helplessness. I’m all
alone in this worry and weakness with no one with whom I can share it.
 The source of my support is also the source of my danger.
 I need your support and structure building, please be consistent, don’t
lose it on me, be available and please work hard on understanding my
behaviors…I’m just so scared you will do the same…. attend to my
feelings, I need you to be so kind and smooth in your affect, I need you to
recognize rhythms and join with me, focus on my tasks and support me
in their completion.
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 20
Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube
Disorganized Attachment
with Daniel Siegel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGD
qJYEi_Ks
What may have happened to me, if
I have Attachment challenges?
 Separation at birth from biological mother.
 Abuse: emotional, sexual, physical.
 Physical or emotional unavailability of parent.
 Lack of reciprocal interactions-No Dance.
 Trauma and neglect: undermine “secure base.”
 A child has not had an appropriate early bonding
experience with a caregiver.
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 23
Movement Exercise
5 minutes
 Silence is maintained during this exercise.
 1. Everyone stand up, and move to a new seat away
from your friends or acquaintances.
 2. Leave all items behind, i.e. coffee, purse.
 3. Sit in a new location.
 How did this experience feel for you?
 What is the meaning of this exercise as it applies to
foster or adopted children?
Part II
Don’t take my Grief away from me:
 Grief is my “empty space” and emotional reaction to
my loss, particularly to the loss of someone or
something to which I have formed the bond of attachment.
My grief can feel like a death. Grief allows me to process my
loss through mourning.
 Mourning means taking my internal experience of
grief and expressing it externally. I need to be
encouraged to mourn my loss. This will feel scary at first,
but then really really good. I can often have difficulty
dealing with my grief due to shame, embarrassment & fear
of being misunderstood or that you might think I don’t
love you. Regardless of how abusive or traumatizing my
previous situation was, I am still grieving the loss of that
situation. I know it sounds crazy, but I am.
What are my losses…
 Attachment Loss: my first mother was absent, I was
separated from birth family, my parent died and or my
parent did drugs or drank a lot or my parent went to
jail. The loss that was “in-ated” now has to be created.
 Object Loss: I may be missing my favorite toy or
object (blanket, pacifier, and teddy bear)
 Loss of Self: I feel like it’s may fault, I could have done
something, I don’t feel good about myself. I was
physically, sexually, or emotionally abused or
neglected by my parents. I wasn’t important to them.
 Loss of Environment: I had a family I separated
from, I went to a school I made many friends and now
I’m changing schools again.
I’m sorry…your gonna have to deal with
this now…
 I’m gonna have difficulty with changes and transitions,
even seemingly minor ones.
 I’m gonna have trouble making decisions and real life
choices.
 I’m gonna have problems coping with routine
childhood or adolescent losses (birthdays, last day of
school, death of a pet, move to a new home, etc.)
 I’m gonna have a sort of learned helplessness and
hopelessness due to a sense that “I have no control over
my life so I’m gonna have to control yours.”
 I’m gonna experience 5 Stages of Grief - Shock/Denial,
Anger, Bargaining/Guilt, Depression and Acceptance.
 I’m gonna question my identity and my existence: So,
who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I belong?
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 27
Mirror Exercise
5 minutes
 Everyone please take out a mirror or use mirror on
table…
 1. Identify 2 characteristics they know comes from a
member of their family?
 2. Please raise your hand and share the characteristic
you have identified and from whom.
 3. NOW…turn the mirror “over.”
 4. What does it feel like to have no reflection? Is this
considered a cultural loss?
 Trauma is “an event that is outside the range of usual human
experience, that would be markedly distressing to almost
anyone.” Defined by the American Psychological Association.
Types of trauma are related to:
 Unwanted pregnancy-fetus brain is bathed in stress hormones.
 Substance abuse by mother In-Utero or after birth.
 Traumatic birth.
 Abrupt separation from biological parent.
 Attachment trauma- failure to develop a secure attachment.
 Extreme abuse or neglect or domestic violence.
 Multiple placements, abrupt separations from a foster or
adoptive parent.
©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 29
Part III
What if I also had
Trauma?
1. Re-experiencing:
 Recurrent re-experiencing of trauma, i.e. flashbacks,
nightmares, intrusive thoughts or images.
 Intense psychological and/or physiological reactions to
external or internal cues that represent some aspect of
the traumatic event(s), implicit memories of explicit
memories.
If I have experienced a traumatic event
what could be happening to me?
Re-experiencing is actually part of the healing process….
2. Avoiding:
 Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the
trauma, i.e.
 Thoughts, feelings, conversations
 Activities, people, places
 Impaired memory of aspects of trauma
 Reduced interest or participation in usual activities
 Feeling detached/estranged from others
 Unable to feel loving/loved
 Sense of shortened lifespan
If I have experienced a traumatic event
what could be happening to me?
3. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal:
 Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
 Frequent irritability or angry outbursts
 Impaired concentration/focus
 Hyper-vigilance
 Exaggerated startle response
If I have experienced a traumatic event
what could be happening to me?
 The neurons that become “wired” together “fire” together and
build a connection. A “root template” forms, and the vast
majority of synaptic connections occur by the age of 3.
 My behaviors are a direct result of my “internal working
model” the imprints I have downloaded from my early
experiences.
 When I am testing YOU – I am testing my MODEL.
 Rewards and consequences are not processed, my brain only
cares about “the moment”… there is no abstract or future
thought, “cause and effect” does not apply. I cannot process
thoughts readily.
 A traumatized child’s brain is going to worry about adapting
to their environment rather then focusing of accuracy/reality.
• They will have difficulty in receptive learning - forming close
relationships, receiving comfort and developing trust.
Part IV
What are the BRAIN effects of living in survival?
Watch 5 minute Video on
YouTube
Dr. Allan Schore on Hypo-
arousal, Hyper-arousal,
Dissociation and the Inability
to take in comfort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=j_bf9r7Jcxs
 It senses emotion
 Protects us from harm and learns what to avoid in life
– defends out of fear!
 Non-verbal
 Stores autobiographical memory
 Senses body info in others
 Emotional Tsunami!
 Functions different than the left!
 Is dominant from the 3rd trimester to the first 3 years.
 Considered the “Low Road” of functioning.
Brain Hemispheres
RIGHT BRAIN
 Logic, Linear, Linguistic and Literal
 Approaches things, to feel good and deal with things
aggressively, to get them out of our way (road rage)
 Anger has been found to be a left brain emotion along
with joy!
 Loves the letter of the law!
 Emotional Desert
 Functions different than the right!
 Considered the “High Road” of functioning.
Brain Hemispheres
LEFT BRAIN
SURVIVALThe part of the brain you use more gets more blood flow.
Reptilian Brain
(Limbic System)
Mid-Brain
Prefrontal Cortex
THESE CHILDREN DEFAULT to the RIGHT BRAIN of
SURVIVAL MODE and will perceive any new experience
as a threat unless deemed otherwise.- Bruce Perry
Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube
Dr. Allan Schore
Therapeutic Alliance and
Emotional Communication,
right brain to right brain-food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI9
fxZRtjdU
Watch 2.5 minute Video on YouTube
Hand Model of the Brain
with Daniel Siegel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD
-lfP1FBFk
Teach “I Messages”
 “I FEEL …” basic feelings…
 Say “I FEEL …”
 SAD, MAD, SCARED, or GLAD
 “I NEED …” 5 basic needs…the 5 A’s…
 Say “I NEED….”
 AUTONOMY OR ALONE TIME, AFFECTION,
ATTENTION, APPRECIATION, AND/OR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of
Needs
 Self Esteem
 Love
 Belonging
 Safety
 Physical
 If these needs are being met, someone cares about me, I
matter. If you jump to a higher level need like belonging
and love before the basic physical and safety needs have
been met…I will not feel loved. Bonding can take 6 months
to 2 years.
Practice Teaching the
Hand Model of the Brain
10 Minute Exercise
Choose a partner, role play imagining
your child/teen.
Teach your partner the hand model of
the brain.
Importance of Understanding SHAME and
how it impedes the development of GUILT
for many foster children and adoptees…
 Shame is directed towards the self, guilt is directed towards the
behavior.
 Shame experiences the “self” as bad, worthless and unlovable. the
person feels that there is little he can do to fix it since he does not feel
able to change the core of who he is. As a result, he is likely to deny, lie,
make excuses, or blame others for his behavior.
 Guilt causes distress for the “other” person.
 Excessive shame prevents the development of guilt and when
experienced it prevents him from accepting responsibility for his
actions.
 Individuals who are rated high on measures of shame are rated low on
measures of empathy for others.
 Individuals who experience guilt readily when wrong are rated high on
measures of empathy
 TREATMENT-SEPARATE THE CHILD FROM THEIR BEHAVIOR
with the SANDWHICH METAPHOR. “I love you, I don’t love it when
you kick the dog, we all matter here, you are important to the dog.”
Part V
What are the Special Needs for Foster
and Adopted Children?
 Emotional Needs
1. I need help in recognizing my foster care/adoption
loss and grieving it.
2. I need to be reassured that my birth parents decision
not to parent me had nothing to do with anything
defective in me.
3. I need help in learning that absence doesn’t mean
abandonment.
4. I need permission to express all my adoptive feelings
and fantasies.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
What are the Special Needs for
Foster and Adopted Children?
 Educational Needs
1. I need to be taught that foster care and adoption are
both wonderful and painful, presenting lifelong
challenges for everyone involved.
2. I need to know my foster care-adoption story first
and then my birth story and birth family.
3. I need to be taught healthy ways for getting my
special needs met.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
What are the Special Needs for
Foster and Adopted Children?
 Validation Needs
1. I need validation of my dual heritage (biological and
adoptive).
2. I need to be assured often that I am welcome and
worthy.
3. I need to be reminded often by my foster/adoptive
family that they delight in my biological differences
and appreciate my birth family’s unique contribution
to our family tree through me!
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
So what are the Special Needs for
Foster and Adopted Children?
 Parental Needs
1. I need parents who are skillful at meeting their own
emotional needs so that I can grow up with healthy
role models and be free to focus on my development.
2. I need parents who are willing to put aside
preconceived notions about foster care/adoption and
be educated about the realities of foster
care/adoption and the special needs that
foster/adoptive families face.
3. I need you to be with me in my darkest moments.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
So what are the Special Needs for
Foster and Adopted Children?
 Relational Needs
1. I need friendships with other foster youth and adoptees!
2. I need to be taught that there is time to consider
searching for my birth family and a time to give up
searching.
 Spiritual Needs
1. I need to be taught that my life narrative began before I
was born and that my life is not a mistake.
2. I need to be taught that loving families are formed
through foster care and/or adoption, as well as birth.
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
So what are the Special Needs for
Foster and Adopted Children?
 Psychological Needs
1. When I’m oppositional or avoidant, call it getting “stuck.”
I really do want to do the right thing, I just can’t always
give you the control. It scares me!
2. Vulnerability with you sometime feels like a “near death”
experience. I will need to control you to reduce my
anxiety, please tell me “I am right here” and “I know this
is hard.”
3. I will “over-identify” with being adopted, like “I’m” a
condition… I need you to separate my adoption
experience from my “identity” and tell me “ I was
adopted.”
From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their
Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
Pinterest Board “Inner Life of Foster Youth”
Hear Paula’s
Story of Hope
15 minutes
Part VI
16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing
 #1- I need you to maintain a positive affective tone that
influences me, rather than letting my negative tone influence
you. If you react to my negative emotional state then I will feel
powerful and in control. By remaining calm… time, time and
again, I will eventually see you as strong enough to deal with me
and my pain and I will stop testing you. Trust me!
 #2- Please be aware of your non-verbal cues – eye contact,
posture, tone of voice, and your timing/intensity of response.
 #3- I need your connection, not correction. Lectures are not
effective with me because they are actually educating me to comply
with authority rather than to develop my own meaning about an issue.
It’s like giving a prosecuting attorney more information to work with!!!
Please do “storytelling” with me which conveys an “attitude of
acceptance of the listener”, rather than evaluation/criticism &
encourages a non-defensive response in me.
16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing
 #4- Stay connected to my “inner life” by repeating what I say to
you by matching my rhythm and affect. I hear, I see.
 #5- “I need to know the truth of my story….even if it is hard for
you, it will be healing for me… trust me.”
 #6- Set expectations based on my developmental emotional age,
not chronological age, I will do better and feel better! Children
with attachment trauma have at least 2 years delay.
 #7- I need structure, routine, and predictability, it actually calms
me down this knowing what’s gonna happen next and will help
me understand before and after and cause and effect. Make
transition books with me.
 #8- Please do Time-in instead of Time-out. Convey to me “non-
verbally, “I am strong enough to be WITH you in your pain, and
still love you.” ( See handout )
 #9- Please respond to my strengths/vulnerabilities that underlie
my symptoms/problems than reacting to my behaviors
themselves. ( List in the Appendix)
16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing
 #10- I need you to accept responsibility for initiating
repair with me. If you insist I “apologize”, you are
communicating that I’m responsible for the continuity
of the relationship. I will then think “the relationship is
not important to you & it will be highly unlikely that I
will have the confidence to take the first step which will
lead to a downward spiral of negative distancing and
possibly ‘Take FOREVER” or if I do initiate repair, I’m
going to experience resentment that I had to be “good”
and be “sorry” before my parent would welcome me
back again into their mind and heart.
Watch 5 minute Video on
YouTube
Dr. Allan Schore on
Resilience and the balance of
Rupture and Repair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=cbfuBex-3jE
16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing
 #11- I will say “I can’t” in relation to expectation for
performance in school, behaviors, or sports. This can
stem from fear, shame or from not knowing how and I
may avoid. Please reframe this “I can’t” as “I haven’t
learned how yet” or “I haven’t done it yet” or “A part of
me is afraid right now, in time I will grow a new part
that will learn how to.”
 #12- With situations wherein there have been
problems, before re-entering the situation, review with
me, in a Time-in, what is expected and help me
understand with kindness…if I don’t understand and
“mess up” again I’m going to feel badly about this…I
just may not be ready to re-enter a situation yet…
16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing
 #13- Please don’t withhold the following activities for
discipline unless warranted as a natural
consequence- Family Time, Sports & Hobbies &
One-on-One time with Parents…these activities
help me feel accomplished, successful and get me
out of the “black hole.”
 #14- The word “scared” is vulnerable” for me, use the
word “WORRIED.” “I see you are worried about
this…”
 #15- Tell me my “MY HURT PART” in my heart is a a
part of me that is overdoing its job of protecting me
from trusting a new relationship… “it keeps love
away from me…” accept and be curious of all of my
parts so I can help organize who I am…
 #16- Provide permission for emoting- “Did you want
to have your fit now about going to bed to get it out
of the way?” Have them punch a pillow, rip up paper,
pop bubble wrap.
You will know I am healing when…
 ...I can tell you how I am feeling, I will ask you for help and
accept your help without a physiological reaction.
 …I smile back!!!
 …I receive you with “eye contact” and can take you in
emotionally.
 …I can take in “compliments and feel good about myself.
 …My “BIG FEELINGS” decrease in intensity, frequency and
duration.
 …I feel proud of my accomplishments.
 …I can apologize for “what I do” and not for “who I am.”
 …I understand my story and have compassion for my
biological family.
 …I tell you “I love you.”
Watch 5 minute Video on
YouTube
Daniel Siegel explain
“Connecting to Calm”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV
3hp_eaoiE
Establish PACE
 Playfulness
 Humor is very important to create a quality of lightness an
openness.
 Laughter builds memories of unconditional acceptance of
each other.
 Important for the therapist/parent to laugh at themselves and
admit mistakes openly.
 Humor can shift a “Stuck” child.
 Acceptance
 Acceptance has nothing to do with permissiveness.
 Behaviors remain to be evaluated. Parents will continue to set
limits and direct behavior by focusing their teaching on the
behavior and never upon the child.
 Understanding a child’s behavior represents the child’s best
effort at the time.
 “He is doing the best that he could.” The parent may disagree
with the choice while at the same time accepting the intention
behind the choice.
Establish PACE
 Curiosity
 Have a nonjudgmental, “not knowing” stance that requires
a therapist/parent to inquire about the child’s inner life
that led to the behaviors.
 Child needs to feel safe that his inner life will not be
criticized. If so the child will hide his motives and not be
able to modify his behavior.
75% of the time, ask me questions!
 Curiosity invites the “resistance” into intersubjectivity.
 “What do you think about that?”
 “If you do that, what do you expect to happen next?”
 “Tell me about that?”
 “What do you want to happen?”
Establish PACE
 Empathy
 Empathy must be conveyed with both nonverbal and verbal
expressions. i.e. gentle touch, tone, eye contact, facial
expression, touch
 Parent conveys she is with him and that he is capable of
managing the situation, even though it is hard.
 Parent does not rescue the child from the event or solve the
problem for him or reassure like… “I love you….it’s ok, it’ll
be alright.” NO! This is an empathy killer.
Parent must share the distress for the problem.
 “If you think that I don’t care, that must be SO hard!”
 “You really seem to be hard on yourself.”
 “This is really hard, you’re doing it and struggling with it.”
 “This is really hard. You are showing a lot of strength.”
 “I’m right here…. It makes sense you feel worried….”
PRACTICE P.A.C.E.
10 Minute Exercise
Pick a partner, apply the P.A.C.E Model,
with your child and practice
connecting to their Grief.
Suggestions for Parents Helping
Children Manage Feelings of Loss:
1. Give voice to the ambiguity… “I’m so sorry you feel so sorry
for your loss i.e. missing your foster family, thinking about
your birth mom.”
2. Help the child identify what has been lost... Do a Grief
Inventory.
3. Create a “loss box,” “Sad Bag”, “Sad/Mad Pillow”, or
designate a Grief doll.
4. Sometimes certain events trigger feelings of loss such as
holidays, birthdays, or the anniversary of the initial
separation from birth family or foster family or birth country.
Create a candle ritual to honor that loss.
What’s HYSTERICAL is HISTORICAL.
5. Create transitional objects for child to hold when there is
separation, i.e. keychain with parent’s picture, necklace with
locket, piece of clothing of parents that is recognizable,
picture of parent and child together, business card.
Healing Words for Babies who are
“checked out” and unresponsive
 “You miss your mother. You miss your connection.
You’ve lost something very important, and I
understand. I’m not the mom you expected, I don’t
smell like her, I don’t sound like her. I’m a different
mom, and I love you, and I’m going to stay right here
with you.” from Dr. Wendy McCord
 Saying this out loud can be tremendously healing for
the infant to hear. It will allow the baby to cry, and
allow the baby to mourn.
Hold on To My Feelings
Intervention
 Exercise 10 minutes
Watch 16 minute Movie
A Simple Piece of Paper
Listen to Audio CD
The Hope Filled Parent Meditations for
foster and adoptive parents of children
who have been harmed.
Track 4
Meltdown at Walmart
6.5 minutes
This pin received 275 RE-PINS
on a Pinterest Board named
“Inner Life of Foster Youth”
“The quality of strength lined with
tenderness is an unbeatable
combination…”- Maya Angelou
Appendix
Online Book List
http://celiacenter.org/cc/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/Resou
rces-for-Families-and-
Professionals.pdf
Focusing on Strengths
 “You really seem to want to help your brother.”
 “You really want to get good at that.”
 “Your friend is really important to you.”
 “Great job to control your anger when you were
mad at your mom/dad.”
 “You have a lot of courage to tell me the truth.”
Focusing on Vulnerabilities
 “It is so hard to find the right words.”
 “You really are hard on yourself when you do
something wrong.”
 “Nothing seems to be going right for you lately.”
 “Sometimes you get so upset it seems to ruin your
whole day.”
 “It seems so hard to just relax and be confident
that things will go your way.”
TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY UNDERSTANDING YOUR FOSTER AND/OR ADOPTED CHILD

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TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY UNDERSTANDING YOUR FOSTER AND/OR ADOPTED CHILD

  • 1. Presented By: Jeanette Yoffe, MFT info@celiacenter.org
  • 2. Agenda:  I Introduction: Attachment  II Grief and Loss  III Trauma  IV Neuroscience of Trauma & Brain Effects  V Special Needs of Foster Youth & Adoptees  VI Interventions  VII Inner Life Revealed ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 2
  • 3. INDEX CARD ACTIVITY  4 cards per person  Write on card # 1 Favorite Food as a child  Write on Card #2 Favorite Person as a child  Write on Card #3 Favorite Place as a teen  Write on Card #4 Mom or Dad’s name
  • 4.  Often we have saved foster/adopted children from abuse/neglect but we have failed to recognize that they still carry with them their feelings and memories of their biological families...  To truly understand a foster child or adoptee, we must get into their world! Then and only then we just may begin to understand their behaviors!  Today we will take a journey together into their world through their eyes! ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 4
  • 5. Watch 12 minute Film ReMoved www.vimeo.com/73172036
  • 6. Just so you know… “It’s my fault”, so I will apologize a lot and see Myself AS… Bad  Stupid  Worthless  Unworthy  Unwanted  Not good enough  Deserving misfortune  Lacking control  Shame of being different  Incomplete
  • 7. I’m sorry… I may perceive YOU AS…  Violent  Cruel  Rejecting  Unpredictable  A risk  Not to be trusted  Better than me  Mean  Overwhelming me with love…ugh!
  • 8. I will Maintain Safety BY…  Denying thoughts and feelings  Silence  Avoiding eye contact  Rejecting you first, especially your affection  Lying  Arguing for long periods of time  Holding on and letting go  Dissociating  Testing you over and over  People pleasing  Manipulating, being defensive, oppositional and angry  Hurting you or myself “with my words or my hands!”
  • 9. Some Things I want you to Know… 1. I have suffered a profound loss before I came to you. You are not responsible. 2. I need to be taught that I have special needs arising from foster care and/or adoption loss of which I need not be ashamed. 3. If I don’t grieve my loss, my ability to receive love from you and others will be hindered. 4. I need your help grieving my loss. 5. Teach me how to get in touch with my feelings about my foster care/adoption experience and validate them. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 10. Some Things I want you to Know… 1. I need to know the truth about my conception, birth, and family history, no matter how painful the details may be. 2. Birthdays may be difficult for me. 3. When I act out my fears in obnoxious ways, please hang in there with me, and respond wisely. 4. Even if I decide to search for my birth family, I will always want you to be my parents. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 11.
  • 12. Part I Alan Schore From the Womb to 24 months Film 5 minutes start at 41-46 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= KW-S4cyEFCc#t=1
  • 13. Types of Attachment I may have…  If I have a Secure attachment….  I become distressed by our separation.  I can direct my anger at you, because I know we are safe, and I know your not going anywhere….!  I can be settled by your attempts to soothe me.  I know I’m loveable and worthy.  Now you can discipline me because I trust and understand our relationship is secure and your teaching me how to be the best me! ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 13
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  • 15. I may be Avoidant at times…  What if I have Avoidant attachment?  I have minimal response to our separation.  I avoid turning to you for help, I’m going to minimize your importance to me.  I have an implicit claim of strength and independence.  To get close is to be rejected; to truly separate is to be rejected.”  I need your supportive attunement and positive experience of me…can you look at me a lot like gazing?, can you show me you love me with and without words?, can you have empathy for my feelings?, can you take turns with me?, it’s not all about what you want, let’s negotiate sometimes….can you match my affect- so I know you hear me and I exist?, can you repeat my words so I know you get me….? ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 15
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  • 18. I may be anxious and ambivalent…  What if I have an Anxious/Ambivalent attachment?  I DO become distressed by our separation.  However, I’m unable to be soothed by you.  I can be either passively overwhelmed or angrily preoccupied usually with my toys or activities, that’s how you’ll know.  I rely on you to make all of my choices and and I minimize my need to be self-reliant. You just do everything because I just can’t even deal “I’m so anxious and ambivalent!!!”  To be close to you feels smothering, to be separate feels abandoned. I’m just screwed either way!!!!  I need you in supporting me and help me take charge, be the leader, give me clarity, explain everything to me and let me know the purpose and that I have purpose, take interest in my exploration of the world even if it’s crazy, accept our differences and my imagination, honor our separate experiences, be clear with me, explain things concretely and make sure I get what you are saying so we are on the same page. ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 18
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  • 20. I need your help badly…  What is Disorganized attachment?  I become very fearful when you are not here for me, and when I reach for you, you are not there…. I just can’t take it, I can’t do this all by myself…I’m terrified!!!  I feel helpless! I keep calling for you, you scare me over and over, you don’t know how to help me either, your helpless too…  I will do this on my own. No one will ever understand me. I cannot share this with anyone…. I will only feel more terror, more helplessness. I’m all alone in this worry and weakness with no one with whom I can share it.  The source of my support is also the source of my danger.  I need your support and structure building, please be consistent, don’t lose it on me, be available and please work hard on understanding my behaviors…I’m just so scared you will do the same…. attend to my feelings, I need you to be so kind and smooth in your affect, I need you to recognize rhythms and join with me, focus on my tasks and support me in their completion. ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 20
  • 21.
  • 22. Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube Disorganized Attachment with Daniel Siegel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGD qJYEi_Ks
  • 23. What may have happened to me, if I have Attachment challenges?  Separation at birth from biological mother.  Abuse: emotional, sexual, physical.  Physical or emotional unavailability of parent.  Lack of reciprocal interactions-No Dance.  Trauma and neglect: undermine “secure base.”  A child has not had an appropriate early bonding experience with a caregiver. ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 23
  • 24. Movement Exercise 5 minutes  Silence is maintained during this exercise.  1. Everyone stand up, and move to a new seat away from your friends or acquaintances.  2. Leave all items behind, i.e. coffee, purse.  3. Sit in a new location.  How did this experience feel for you?  What is the meaning of this exercise as it applies to foster or adopted children?
  • 25. Part II Don’t take my Grief away from me:  Grief is my “empty space” and emotional reaction to my loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which I have formed the bond of attachment. My grief can feel like a death. Grief allows me to process my loss through mourning.  Mourning means taking my internal experience of grief and expressing it externally. I need to be encouraged to mourn my loss. This will feel scary at first, but then really really good. I can often have difficulty dealing with my grief due to shame, embarrassment & fear of being misunderstood or that you might think I don’t love you. Regardless of how abusive or traumatizing my previous situation was, I am still grieving the loss of that situation. I know it sounds crazy, but I am.
  • 26. What are my losses…  Attachment Loss: my first mother was absent, I was separated from birth family, my parent died and or my parent did drugs or drank a lot or my parent went to jail. The loss that was “in-ated” now has to be created.  Object Loss: I may be missing my favorite toy or object (blanket, pacifier, and teddy bear)  Loss of Self: I feel like it’s may fault, I could have done something, I don’t feel good about myself. I was physically, sexually, or emotionally abused or neglected by my parents. I wasn’t important to them.  Loss of Environment: I had a family I separated from, I went to a school I made many friends and now I’m changing schools again.
  • 27. I’m sorry…your gonna have to deal with this now…  I’m gonna have difficulty with changes and transitions, even seemingly minor ones.  I’m gonna have trouble making decisions and real life choices.  I’m gonna have problems coping with routine childhood or adolescent losses (birthdays, last day of school, death of a pet, move to a new home, etc.)  I’m gonna have a sort of learned helplessness and hopelessness due to a sense that “I have no control over my life so I’m gonna have to control yours.”  I’m gonna experience 5 Stages of Grief - Shock/Denial, Anger, Bargaining/Guilt, Depression and Acceptance.  I’m gonna question my identity and my existence: So, who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I belong? ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 27
  • 28. Mirror Exercise 5 minutes  Everyone please take out a mirror or use mirror on table…  1. Identify 2 characteristics they know comes from a member of their family?  2. Please raise your hand and share the characteristic you have identified and from whom.  3. NOW…turn the mirror “over.”  4. What does it feel like to have no reflection? Is this considered a cultural loss?
  • 29.  Trauma is “an event that is outside the range of usual human experience, that would be markedly distressing to almost anyone.” Defined by the American Psychological Association. Types of trauma are related to:  Unwanted pregnancy-fetus brain is bathed in stress hormones.  Substance abuse by mother In-Utero or after birth.  Traumatic birth.  Abrupt separation from biological parent.  Attachment trauma- failure to develop a secure attachment.  Extreme abuse or neglect or domestic violence.  Multiple placements, abrupt separations from a foster or adoptive parent. ©2011, American Foster Care Resources, Inc. 29 Part III What if I also had Trauma?
  • 30.
  • 31. 1. Re-experiencing:  Recurrent re-experiencing of trauma, i.e. flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts or images.  Intense psychological and/or physiological reactions to external or internal cues that represent some aspect of the traumatic event(s), implicit memories of explicit memories. If I have experienced a traumatic event what could be happening to me?
  • 32. Re-experiencing is actually part of the healing process….
  • 33. 2. Avoiding:  Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, i.e.  Thoughts, feelings, conversations  Activities, people, places  Impaired memory of aspects of trauma  Reduced interest or participation in usual activities  Feeling detached/estranged from others  Unable to feel loving/loved  Sense of shortened lifespan If I have experienced a traumatic event what could be happening to me?
  • 34. 3. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal:  Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep  Frequent irritability or angry outbursts  Impaired concentration/focus  Hyper-vigilance  Exaggerated startle response If I have experienced a traumatic event what could be happening to me?
  • 35.  The neurons that become “wired” together “fire” together and build a connection. A “root template” forms, and the vast majority of synaptic connections occur by the age of 3.  My behaviors are a direct result of my “internal working model” the imprints I have downloaded from my early experiences.  When I am testing YOU – I am testing my MODEL.  Rewards and consequences are not processed, my brain only cares about “the moment”… there is no abstract or future thought, “cause and effect” does not apply. I cannot process thoughts readily.  A traumatized child’s brain is going to worry about adapting to their environment rather then focusing of accuracy/reality. • They will have difficulty in receptive learning - forming close relationships, receiving comfort and developing trust. Part IV What are the BRAIN effects of living in survival?
  • 36. Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube Dr. Allan Schore on Hypo- arousal, Hyper-arousal, Dissociation and the Inability to take in comfort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =j_bf9r7Jcxs
  • 37.  It senses emotion  Protects us from harm and learns what to avoid in life – defends out of fear!  Non-verbal  Stores autobiographical memory  Senses body info in others  Emotional Tsunami!  Functions different than the left!  Is dominant from the 3rd trimester to the first 3 years.  Considered the “Low Road” of functioning. Brain Hemispheres RIGHT BRAIN
  • 38.  Logic, Linear, Linguistic and Literal  Approaches things, to feel good and deal with things aggressively, to get them out of our way (road rage)  Anger has been found to be a left brain emotion along with joy!  Loves the letter of the law!  Emotional Desert  Functions different than the right!  Considered the “High Road” of functioning. Brain Hemispheres LEFT BRAIN
  • 39. SURVIVALThe part of the brain you use more gets more blood flow. Reptilian Brain (Limbic System) Mid-Brain Prefrontal Cortex THESE CHILDREN DEFAULT to the RIGHT BRAIN of SURVIVAL MODE and will perceive any new experience as a threat unless deemed otherwise.- Bruce Perry
  • 40. Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube Dr. Allan Schore Therapeutic Alliance and Emotional Communication, right brain to right brain-food https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI9 fxZRtjdU
  • 41. Watch 2.5 minute Video on YouTube Hand Model of the Brain with Daniel Siegel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD -lfP1FBFk
  • 42. Teach “I Messages”  “I FEEL …” basic feelings…  Say “I FEEL …”  SAD, MAD, SCARED, or GLAD  “I NEED …” 5 basic needs…the 5 A’s…  Say “I NEED….”  AUTONOMY OR ALONE TIME, AFFECTION, ATTENTION, APPRECIATION, AND/OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
  • 43. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs  Self Esteem  Love  Belonging  Safety  Physical  If these needs are being met, someone cares about me, I matter. If you jump to a higher level need like belonging and love before the basic physical and safety needs have been met…I will not feel loved. Bonding can take 6 months to 2 years.
  • 44. Practice Teaching the Hand Model of the Brain 10 Minute Exercise Choose a partner, role play imagining your child/teen. Teach your partner the hand model of the brain.
  • 45. Importance of Understanding SHAME and how it impedes the development of GUILT for many foster children and adoptees…  Shame is directed towards the self, guilt is directed towards the behavior.  Shame experiences the “self” as bad, worthless and unlovable. the person feels that there is little he can do to fix it since he does not feel able to change the core of who he is. As a result, he is likely to deny, lie, make excuses, or blame others for his behavior.  Guilt causes distress for the “other” person.  Excessive shame prevents the development of guilt and when experienced it prevents him from accepting responsibility for his actions.  Individuals who are rated high on measures of shame are rated low on measures of empathy for others.  Individuals who experience guilt readily when wrong are rated high on measures of empathy  TREATMENT-SEPARATE THE CHILD FROM THEIR BEHAVIOR with the SANDWHICH METAPHOR. “I love you, I don’t love it when you kick the dog, we all matter here, you are important to the dog.”
  • 46. Part V What are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Emotional Needs 1. I need help in recognizing my foster care/adoption loss and grieving it. 2. I need to be reassured that my birth parents decision not to parent me had nothing to do with anything defective in me. 3. I need help in learning that absence doesn’t mean abandonment. 4. I need permission to express all my adoptive feelings and fantasies. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 47. What are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Educational Needs 1. I need to be taught that foster care and adoption are both wonderful and painful, presenting lifelong challenges for everyone involved. 2. I need to know my foster care-adoption story first and then my birth story and birth family. 3. I need to be taught healthy ways for getting my special needs met. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 48. What are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Validation Needs 1. I need validation of my dual heritage (biological and adoptive). 2. I need to be assured often that I am welcome and worthy. 3. I need to be reminded often by my foster/adoptive family that they delight in my biological differences and appreciate my birth family’s unique contribution to our family tree through me! From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 49. So what are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Parental Needs 1. I need parents who are skillful at meeting their own emotional needs so that I can grow up with healthy role models and be free to focus on my development. 2. I need parents who are willing to put aside preconceived notions about foster care/adoption and be educated about the realities of foster care/adoption and the special needs that foster/adoptive families face. 3. I need you to be with me in my darkest moments. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 50. So what are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Relational Needs 1. I need friendships with other foster youth and adoptees! 2. I need to be taught that there is time to consider searching for my birth family and a time to give up searching.  Spiritual Needs 1. I need to be taught that my life narrative began before I was born and that my life is not a mistake. 2. I need to be taught that loving families are formed through foster care and/or adoption, as well as birth. From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
  • 51. So what are the Special Needs for Foster and Adopted Children?  Psychological Needs 1. When I’m oppositional or avoidant, call it getting “stuck.” I really do want to do the right thing, I just can’t always give you the control. It scares me! 2. Vulnerability with you sometime feels like a “near death” experience. I will need to control you to reduce my anxiety, please tell me “I am right here” and “I know this is hard.” 3. I will “over-identify” with being adopted, like “I’m” a condition… I need you to separate my adoption experience from my “identity” and tell me “ I was adopted.” From “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew” by Sherrie Eldridge
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  • 53.
  • 54. Pinterest Board “Inner Life of Foster Youth”
  • 55. Hear Paula’s Story of Hope 15 minutes
  • 56. Part VI 16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing  #1- I need you to maintain a positive affective tone that influences me, rather than letting my negative tone influence you. If you react to my negative emotional state then I will feel powerful and in control. By remaining calm… time, time and again, I will eventually see you as strong enough to deal with me and my pain and I will stop testing you. Trust me!  #2- Please be aware of your non-verbal cues – eye contact, posture, tone of voice, and your timing/intensity of response.  #3- I need your connection, not correction. Lectures are not effective with me because they are actually educating me to comply with authority rather than to develop my own meaning about an issue. It’s like giving a prosecuting attorney more information to work with!!! Please do “storytelling” with me which conveys an “attitude of acceptance of the listener”, rather than evaluation/criticism & encourages a non-defensive response in me.
  • 57. 16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing  #4- Stay connected to my “inner life” by repeating what I say to you by matching my rhythm and affect. I hear, I see.  #5- “I need to know the truth of my story….even if it is hard for you, it will be healing for me… trust me.”  #6- Set expectations based on my developmental emotional age, not chronological age, I will do better and feel better! Children with attachment trauma have at least 2 years delay.  #7- I need structure, routine, and predictability, it actually calms me down this knowing what’s gonna happen next and will help me understand before and after and cause and effect. Make transition books with me.  #8- Please do Time-in instead of Time-out. Convey to me “non- verbally, “I am strong enough to be WITH you in your pain, and still love you.” ( See handout )  #9- Please respond to my strengths/vulnerabilities that underlie my symptoms/problems than reacting to my behaviors themselves. ( List in the Appendix)
  • 58. 16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing  #10- I need you to accept responsibility for initiating repair with me. If you insist I “apologize”, you are communicating that I’m responsible for the continuity of the relationship. I will then think “the relationship is not important to you & it will be highly unlikely that I will have the confidence to take the first step which will lead to a downward spiral of negative distancing and possibly ‘Take FOREVER” or if I do initiate repair, I’m going to experience resentment that I had to be “good” and be “sorry” before my parent would welcome me back again into their mind and heart.
  • 59. Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube Dr. Allan Schore on Resilience and the balance of Rupture and Repair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =cbfuBex-3jE
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  • 61. 16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing  #11- I will say “I can’t” in relation to expectation for performance in school, behaviors, or sports. This can stem from fear, shame or from not knowing how and I may avoid. Please reframe this “I can’t” as “I haven’t learned how yet” or “I haven’t done it yet” or “A part of me is afraid right now, in time I will grow a new part that will learn how to.”  #12- With situations wherein there have been problems, before re-entering the situation, review with me, in a Time-in, what is expected and help me understand with kindness…if I don’t understand and “mess up” again I’m going to feel badly about this…I just may not be ready to re-enter a situation yet…
  • 62. 16 Interventions to Facilitate Healing  #13- Please don’t withhold the following activities for discipline unless warranted as a natural consequence- Family Time, Sports & Hobbies & One-on-One time with Parents…these activities help me feel accomplished, successful and get me out of the “black hole.”  #14- The word “scared” is vulnerable” for me, use the word “WORRIED.” “I see you are worried about this…”  #15- Tell me my “MY HURT PART” in my heart is a a part of me that is overdoing its job of protecting me from trusting a new relationship… “it keeps love away from me…” accept and be curious of all of my parts so I can help organize who I am…  #16- Provide permission for emoting- “Did you want to have your fit now about going to bed to get it out of the way?” Have them punch a pillow, rip up paper, pop bubble wrap.
  • 63. You will know I am healing when…  ...I can tell you how I am feeling, I will ask you for help and accept your help without a physiological reaction.  …I smile back!!!  …I receive you with “eye contact” and can take you in emotionally.  …I can take in “compliments and feel good about myself.  …My “BIG FEELINGS” decrease in intensity, frequency and duration.  …I feel proud of my accomplishments.  …I can apologize for “what I do” and not for “who I am.”  …I understand my story and have compassion for my biological family.  …I tell you “I love you.”
  • 64. Watch 5 minute Video on YouTube Daniel Siegel explain “Connecting to Calm” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV 3hp_eaoiE
  • 65. Establish PACE  Playfulness  Humor is very important to create a quality of lightness an openness.  Laughter builds memories of unconditional acceptance of each other.  Important for the therapist/parent to laugh at themselves and admit mistakes openly.  Humor can shift a “Stuck” child.  Acceptance  Acceptance has nothing to do with permissiveness.  Behaviors remain to be evaluated. Parents will continue to set limits and direct behavior by focusing their teaching on the behavior and never upon the child.  Understanding a child’s behavior represents the child’s best effort at the time.  “He is doing the best that he could.” The parent may disagree with the choice while at the same time accepting the intention behind the choice.
  • 66. Establish PACE  Curiosity  Have a nonjudgmental, “not knowing” stance that requires a therapist/parent to inquire about the child’s inner life that led to the behaviors.  Child needs to feel safe that his inner life will not be criticized. If so the child will hide his motives and not be able to modify his behavior. 75% of the time, ask me questions!  Curiosity invites the “resistance” into intersubjectivity.  “What do you think about that?”  “If you do that, what do you expect to happen next?”  “Tell me about that?”  “What do you want to happen?”
  • 67. Establish PACE  Empathy  Empathy must be conveyed with both nonverbal and verbal expressions. i.e. gentle touch, tone, eye contact, facial expression, touch  Parent conveys she is with him and that he is capable of managing the situation, even though it is hard.  Parent does not rescue the child from the event or solve the problem for him or reassure like… “I love you….it’s ok, it’ll be alright.” NO! This is an empathy killer. Parent must share the distress for the problem.  “If you think that I don’t care, that must be SO hard!”  “You really seem to be hard on yourself.”  “This is really hard, you’re doing it and struggling with it.”  “This is really hard. You are showing a lot of strength.”  “I’m right here…. It makes sense you feel worried….”
  • 68. PRACTICE P.A.C.E. 10 Minute Exercise Pick a partner, apply the P.A.C.E Model, with your child and practice connecting to their Grief.
  • 69. Suggestions for Parents Helping Children Manage Feelings of Loss: 1. Give voice to the ambiguity… “I’m so sorry you feel so sorry for your loss i.e. missing your foster family, thinking about your birth mom.” 2. Help the child identify what has been lost... Do a Grief Inventory. 3. Create a “loss box,” “Sad Bag”, “Sad/Mad Pillow”, or designate a Grief doll. 4. Sometimes certain events trigger feelings of loss such as holidays, birthdays, or the anniversary of the initial separation from birth family or foster family or birth country. Create a candle ritual to honor that loss. What’s HYSTERICAL is HISTORICAL. 5. Create transitional objects for child to hold when there is separation, i.e. keychain with parent’s picture, necklace with locket, piece of clothing of parents that is recognizable, picture of parent and child together, business card.
  • 70.
  • 71. Healing Words for Babies who are “checked out” and unresponsive  “You miss your mother. You miss your connection. You’ve lost something very important, and I understand. I’m not the mom you expected, I don’t smell like her, I don’t sound like her. I’m a different mom, and I love you, and I’m going to stay right here with you.” from Dr. Wendy McCord  Saying this out loud can be tremendously healing for the infant to hear. It will allow the baby to cry, and allow the baby to mourn.
  • 72. Hold on To My Feelings Intervention  Exercise 10 minutes
  • 73. Watch 16 minute Movie A Simple Piece of Paper
  • 74.
  • 75. Listen to Audio CD The Hope Filled Parent Meditations for foster and adoptive parents of children who have been harmed. Track 4 Meltdown at Walmart 6.5 minutes
  • 76.
  • 77. This pin received 275 RE-PINS on a Pinterest Board named “Inner Life of Foster Youth”
  • 78. “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination…”- Maya Angelou
  • 80. Focusing on Strengths  “You really seem to want to help your brother.”  “You really want to get good at that.”  “Your friend is really important to you.”  “Great job to control your anger when you were mad at your mom/dad.”  “You have a lot of courage to tell me the truth.”
  • 81. Focusing on Vulnerabilities  “It is so hard to find the right words.”  “You really are hard on yourself when you do something wrong.”  “Nothing seems to be going right for you lately.”  “Sometimes you get so upset it seems to ruin your whole day.”  “It seems so hard to just relax and be confident that things will go your way.”