Ask your child's pediatrician for additional services and resources.Training may be available through hospitals, school programs, therapeutic, and private agencies. Utilize and seek out community resources.Not all cases are text book, but doing your research can definitely help. Work hard to understand the trauma and how the trauma affects your child.Search for support groups by state on our website. Parent support groups can be a great source of information. Never be afraid to reach out for help and advice from others.Be open to solving problems in new ways.Be prepared to have patience and talk things through-a lot!.Some of the trauma’s effects may not become apparent for months or even years. Do not to expect to learn upfront about all the trauma the child or youth has experienced.Be patient and consistent and do not take children’s behavior personally.How can a parent help a child recover and heal?Įxperienced foster and adoptive parents have shared the following tips with us about supporting a child who has experienced trauma: In an article on our blog, “Understanding Children’s Behavior and Helping Them Heal,” a therapist describes some of the neurological causes of children’s behavior, sensory “triggers,” and how you can calm a child. Research is shifting the way that professionals view and treat children who have experienced trauma by providing biological explanations for what had traditionally been described in psychological, emotional, and behavioral terms. It will take time, patience, and often therapeutic support to address and overcome them.Īs the Child Welfare Information Gateway fact sheet, Parenting a Child Who Has Experienced Trauma (495 KB PDF), states: “Parenting a child who has experienced trauma may require a shift from seeing a ‘bad kid’ to a kid who has had bad things happen to him.” Effect of trauma on brain developmentĪ recent and growing body of research into children’s brain development is shedding new light on the ways that maltreatment changes the structure and chemical activity of the brain and the resulting emotional and behavioral functioning of the child. These behaviors may have helped protect the children from neglect or abuse in the past and may be strongly rooted. Approximately one in four children in foster care will show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.Ĭhildren who have experienced trauma-especially ongoing trauma-may have developed unhealthy habits and behaviors, including increased aggression and distrusting or disobeying adults. ![]() Ongoing trauma often disrupts children’s sense of security, safety, and sense of themselves and alters the way they see and respond to people and situations in their lives. ![]() Trauma can affect children’s brains, bodies, behavior, and ways of thinking. The type of trauma experienced by children in foster care can vary widely from neglect to domestic violence to physical and sexual abuse. ![]() The very act of being put in foster care is traumatic for children, because it means the loss of their birth family and often friends, schoolmates, teachers, and everything that is familiar.īut many children in foster care have experienced more than one form of trauma or repeated trauma, the lasting effects of which should be acknowledged and understood by families considering foster care and adoption.A What is trauma?Ĭhild traumatic stress occurs when children and adolescents are exposed to events or situations that overwhelm their ability to cope and interfere with daily life and their ability to function and interact with others. All children in foster care have been exposed to some form of trauma.
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