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When you’ve always lived rather comfortably, when you have a strong support network of family, friends and/or a faith community, etc., resilience—bouncing back from tough times—isn’t too difficult.
How exchanging the definition of a vacation can bring relaxation, unity, and fun for a family.
A week of luxury at a beach resort, safari in Africa, cruising Disney through the Caribbean. The ultimate family vacations for the ultimate family, right? Sounds nice, however, the reality is the majority of us only go to those places in our dreams. We’re lucky to go to a local theme park or spend a weekend at the beach! The truth is vacations cost money and the bigger your family, the more the cost! Not only do you have to take off work but, travel, food, and lodging can get really expensive, really fast. If you are someone who finds yourself struggling with justifying taking your family on a trip because of the cost, maybe you need a new definition of a vacation.
Presenting the DAYCATION.
“I could never foster a teenager”. I’ve heard it time and time again during my twenty two years working in child welfare. Why are people so afraid of teen agers? We were ALL teenagers at one point…is that why you don’t think you can do it, because you’re afraid of a child like yourself? (insert funny photo?) I have met some of THE most amazing teens during my career. These kids are earning athletic and academic scholarships to college, they excel in their high school sports and community clubs…but they couldn’t do this without a caring foster parent by their side to support them every step of the way.
Today our family celebrates my daughter officially becoming a teenager! She turns the ripe ole age of 13 today. In fact, that teenager is already acting like a teen, sleeping in after a late night sleepover with good friends, talking about who is “dating” whom, downloading music and the newest “approved” apps for her phone. There are multiple birthday celebrations planned for her and so many things to be happy about.
The one thing she is most excited about, however, is finally getting to ride “shotgun” in the car.
While some of you are busy planning your best and most epic April Fool’s Day pranks today, we wanted to take a minute to remind you that today is also the first day of the Pinwheels for Prevention Campaign celebrating Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Heartland for Children is a proud supporter of this national campaign and will be promoting it throughout the month. Please display your pinwheels, share our posts and participate in our events taking place throughout Polk, Hardee and Highlands County. We want everyone to know how they can be a part of the solution.
My wife, Joy-Lynn and I became Foster Parent Mentors (FPM) through Heartland for Children in 2012. When we were approached with the opportunity to be an added support for incoming Foster Parents, we jumped at the opportunity because we saw the value in having someone who other Foster Parents could relate to as being an invaluable resource; especially, if the individual(s) were completely new to the fostering and/or parenting experience.
As FPMs through Heartland, we've had the chance to interact with incoming Foster Parents on many levels including assisting with respite, providing guidance or best practices with difficult behavioral issues, advocating for a child who had to be moved from one home to another, making recommendations on working with case management, providing another vantage point through the process of Termination of Parental Rights (TPR), and many other areas that Foster Parents can encounter during their first and continuing years of child advocates.
What we've gained as FPMs is a heightened level of understanding of how important it is to identify the needs of incoming Foster Parents. Being able to make recommendations on how the training component has and can continue to successfully equip incoming parents with the proper training and education; is a value add that Heartland has really welcomed input on.
Cebien Alty - HFC Foster Parent, Foster Parent Mentor