It takes a Village!When we received our Foster daughter, our wait had been almost three years to get through the process.
Our emotions ran high and our arms were opened wide with excitement towards a new daughter to bring into our family! A Forever Family!
Quickly the realization came that our new daughter had her own set of problems when she entered our home, more than we could handle on our own!
Time to get to work! We needed immediate help, support, and a lot of listening ears to make this transition work for all of us.
Therapist and DHS WorkersFirst thing we needed in place was to find a loving, confident therapist that our child could relate with!DHS brought in a home therapist to help us with our family dynamics as we worked through the transition.
ChurchWe made the people in our Church Community aware that our daughter had special needs. They were quick to give her a warm welcome each Sunday as she arrived.Sometimes even anonymous little notes and gifts were left on our doorstep for her.The youth in our congregation welcomed her with open arms. Special play times were arranged as she got to know and make friends.SchoolInto the school system! Communications were necessary, with principals, counselors, and teachers.Eventually our new daughter felt safe as she entered the school grounds, she had a school community that knew who she was and were willing to help her with her transitional and special needs. A special thanks to classroom teachers who cared so much!
Friends and FamilyThey became even more important to us!Their listening ears, support, and suggestions were our saving grace at times!Their encouragement not to give up, to hang in there, and the gentle reminders that we were doing a good job, have helped us to hang in there even today, when those tough and hard moments happen!
It has been 2 years now with our new daughter and we are doing well!Have we needed the help of our Community? Yes, every single day!It truly does take a Village to raise a child!
No comments:
Post a Comment