Here are some pictures from the 2 snow storms that hit us. It's so beautiful on the ground. Ruby has enjoyed bounding through it. Chase and I drove to Eagle Bluffs to look at the birds weathering the storm. It was beautiful, but we definitely don't have the right car to drive in the snow so I think we'll forgo Eagle Bluffs in snow in the future...
I'm a little behind on blogging about our experience as we work on getting licensed to foster children. So here are my reflections on what we covered during the 3rd class:
The subject of class #3 is Meeting Developmental Needs: Attachment. During this session, the teachers discussed the types of abuse/neglect the children might face before entering foster care and the effects this might have on development. This has been the hardest class for me emotionally. I just don't understand how someone could abuse a child. They showed us a video (featuring actors) of a child that had been sexually abused. The video only hinted at what was going on, but it was enough to generate intense feelings of anger from my classmates. Obviously abuse and neglect can severely impact the children and result in "developmental delays." The children may be behind in physically, (example malnourishment), emotionally, and intellectually. As a foster parent, you try to help the children with these delays.
During this class we also talked about attachment. A child in a healthy home environment should feel attached to her parents. Attachment develops by having needs met: Child feels discomfort (or needs something), child expresses discomfort (ie, a need), parent meets that need/comforts child, child feels comfortable. Some of the children have lived years without having needs met by their parents, so they struggle to feel attached. Some of them have learned that adults can't be trusted...adults only cause pain. As a foster parent, you can't expect rapid change...the children have years of unattachment...and the children will fight and resist attempts to form any sort of bond with you. It's very possible even after months, foster children will still be "unattached" to you. The next lesson (#4) was about grief. Then I'll almost be caught up with where we are in the foster licensing process.
Peace and Love, y'all!
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