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June Blog

Caring for Trauma Impacted Children

June is National Trauma awareness month. As we have stated many times, children truly thrive in kinship homes. While the situations that brought children into care are most of the time painful and not at all ideal, being with their family and familiarity is so important. Generations United generated a report regarding the protective role of grandparents and other relatives in raising children exposed to trauma. This is a wonderful resource to professionals and caregivers. Please visit it below: https://www.gu.org/app/uploads/2018/05/Grandfamilies-Report-SOGF-2017.pdf 

Here is a brief story of a caregiver in our program who has taken trauma with her grandsons head on.
In 2019, Cherie took her two grand sons ages 2 and 4 into her home and didn’t think twice about it. The Department of Human Services in Colorado remained involved and Cherie had multiple meetings, requirements and stressors involved with the child welfare system involvement which many caregivers experience. Her grandsons experienced multiple behavioral trauma responses in her home. These included nightmares, potty training regression, physical aggression, and emotional distress on a daily basis. Cherie went through setbacks every time visitation was started and disrupted with the biological parents. Cherie tried her best to create a consistent and safe place for the boys. Cherie has taken so many opportunities to learn and grown. Every training opportunity, educational material, or parenting course Cherie has been given, she has taken and really soaked in the information. She has also closely worked with a Parent Educator at Parents as Teachers. Cherie is thankful for the services KCOW and other programs have given her on her journey. Today they still struggle but know they are safe with their grandmother and can move forward in their journey. Having a consistent caregiver is so important for children not living with their parents. Cherie was that for her grandsons and so many of our caregivers are that for the children in their care. This is not an easy task but it is life changing.
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