Don’t Practice Avoidance: Communicate Freely With Your Foster Child

Although it’s exciting to become a foster parent, you may also find it challenging. After all, you and your foster child are both going to have to go through an adjustment process. Plus, many foster children have already had some challenging experiences in the foster care system. Or they may be grieving the loss of a parent or both parents. So, it becomes difficult to communicate with them, given their psychological state.

Should You Take Your Foster Child to a Therapist?

Foster children may benefit from going to a therapist, either by themselves or along with you as a family. A therapist can help you to learn some techniques which will enable you to communicate better with your foster child.

Children Are Sensitive to the Moods of Adults

Sometimes, foster parents (or parents in general) may not realize it but they communicate a lot of their anxiety to their child. You may try to keep your worries about your foster child in check. But many children are sensitive to the moods of the adults around them and can tell when you’re not entirely comfortable with something. This is why it’s best to communicate as freely as possible with your foster child.

Communicate About School and Past Traumatic Events

If you are concerned about any issues your foster child may be having at school, you can always sit down and talk to them about it. For all you know, those issues may not be as serious as you thought they were, in which case you have been worrying for nothing. Also, keep in mind that it’s ok to discuss any traumatic events that the child has been through. You don’t have to dwell on these all the time but there’s no point in avoiding talking about them either.

Don’t Practice Avoidance: Communicate Freely

Avoidance is the one thing that leads to a lot of anxiety for foster parents. They avoid talking about things that they think might upset their foster children. But the fact is that it’s better to talk things out as this will also help you to create a bond between yourself and your child.