But what about the children?

Tonight after laying my little ones down for bed I scrolled Facebook and found the news story that I’ve been anticipating. Child Abuse Numbers are Skyrocketing.

I don’t know about you but I am parenting a “feeler”. What I mean by this is that he is keenly aware of any change in routine, behavior, and feeds off it. Meaning it is my job to be his internal regulator by calming my own chaos. Through our families' decision to practice social distancing and being aware about COVID-19, I have had to practice my own internal regulation in order to be able to guide my child through this time. When he asks big questions like “why can’t I go to school, play at the park, or see grandpa”. I have found pause with how to answer him.

I don’t know about you but last week was full of meltdowns for my toddler. He feels confused that his routine is off, he isn’t going to school, and let’s be real, he is probably confused why I’m cooking food instead of going to a restaurant. Our first day of working from home was a bit of a free for all because we don’t even have structure yet as we adapt to the new normal of mom and dad both working from home with both boys.

As Gladney’s staff reviews a case file for a child who has been in the Foster Care System we see that the average child in foster care has moved on average about 8 times before they find permanency through adoption.

Many hopeful parents pick up the phone each day and call Gladney to begin their adoption journey. On the list of pre-planned questions they likely jot down prior to the call comes the question “what about drugs and alcohol exposure?”. This is a hard, honest and vulnerable question for almost every parent who is interested in adopting.

With the majority of children entering the Foster Care System before the age of 2 years old there is a great need for foster parents, adoptive parents, teachers, clinicians and medical providers to have tools and resources. Recently I read a harrowing statistic that in the state of Texas there were 4,310 children removed from their parents before or at the age of one years old. Helping the tiniest of our people understand their story, hurt and incorporate emotional and physical wellness should be all of our priority. Recently Sesame Street announced that they were releasing a new resource connection for children who are or have been in foster care and the adults in their lives.

Celebrate Black History Month by offering your child an opportunity for dialogue, self esteem and engagement with the following must have books on their bookshelf!

“Mommy, why doesn’t my hair look like yours?!”

I turned on Sesame Street and found a beautiful episode that gave dialogue to this dreaded age-old question.  NPR reported that Joey Mazzarino a head writer for Sesame Street, who is an Italian Father of an adopted Ethiopian daughter, wrote this episode to help teach his daughter to embrace her beauty after watching her play with her doll.

While watching this episode with my son I quickly fell in love with the catchy song  “don’t need a trip to the beauty shop, ’cause I love what I got on top….”. As well as the message that promotes self-love, acceptance and awareness that we are all different.

I'm grateful for this father starting a dialogue that our society needs. His creativity ignited conversations in homes, schools and playgrounds around the globe. Continue the conversation by catching Gladney University's video on demand training led by author and speaker, Rhonda Roorda entitled "Embracing the Heart, Mind, and Spirit of Transracial Adoption". 

Want to learn more about Mazzarino? Check out his interview on NPR.

I’m a natural born hypochondriac. I know the CDC’s flu recommendations, knew all the signs and symptoms of Ebola and was obsessed with tracking the cities that Zika had impacted. Even if you aren’t a hypochondriac like me you know that public health crises like these flood the news, our social media feed and plague our minds. But why aren’t we talking about the public health crisis that is trauma?! 

With over 130 years of creating bright futures through adoption, you can imagine that Gladney's Post Adoption Department gets asked the same questions many times.