The school year can be full of challenges. New routines, new curriculum, new friends, moving up a grade, and sometimes changing schools altogether can be overwhelming and triggering, particularly for children who have experienced trauma.
As parents and foster parents, there is nothing we wouldn’t do to set our children up for success at the beginning of the school year and every day after that! From making sure they have the supplies to study well to ensuring they have the necessary support, we regularly have to support, guide, and advocate for the children in our care to ensure their school year is successful.
However, sometimes it can feel like we have more questions than answers, right?
This is why we’ve compiled some helpful resources from our blog and podcast over the years to help you navigate the school year with as much confidence as possible. We hope they are a support and encouragement!
Here are 5 resources to help you successfully navigate the school year with the children in your care:
Episode 38: Navigating School Challenges with Children Who Have Experienced Trauma
Parents of foster and adoptive children often face additional considerations in school situations regarding their child’s well-being. Mike and Kristin Berry talk about some of the things parents need to remember when talking with teachers or the principal, as well as delighting in and being an observer of your child.
LISTEN HERE →
Understanding the Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
For foster parents, this time of year is not just about new backpacks, shiny lunch boxes, and an ocean of school supplies. It’s about understanding and supporting the unique needs of the children in their care, ensuring they receive the best education possible. Among the important tools in this journey are Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs. We delve into the ins and outs of IEPs, exploring what they are, how they work, and how foster parents can use them as a tool to ensure the children in their care thrive academically.
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Episode 123: Trauma-Informed Parenting: Building Connections With Your Child
Does your child ever just get on your last nerve? Does it feel like your parenting techniques that have worked with other kids in your care just aren’t working anymore? As parents, we’ve all experienced this more times than we would care to count. When our kids have significant trauma in their past, and we have our own triggers from our past, it can make for a really challenging journey.
Ryan and Kayla North know firsthand what that is like! They have 10 years under their belt as foster parents and today they develop training and programs on childhood trauma. In this conversation, Ryan and Kayla share perspective shifts we need when raising kids with traumatic backgrounds, how our own childhood trauma may be impacting our relationship with our kids, practical ways to parent with connection as the primary goal, and why we can’t care well for our children if we’re not caring for ourselves.
LISTEN HERE →
Episode 48: Teaching Students, Teachers, and Families the Importance of Story
David LaFrance is an elementary school principal who readily shares his story of growing up in a broken and dysfunctional family. His story helps him relate to kids from hard places on a daily basis, as well as drives him to use as many resources as possible to establish relationships with all the people in his life, including his family, his staff, his students, and even their families. Listen to his inspiring story and learn more about tools you can use to better understand trauma and the importance of story.
LISTEN HERE →
5 Ways to Make Back to School Great
“Last week, we dropped off our 5-year-old foster daughter for her first day of kindergarten. She was so excited and so nervous. And my wife and I were feeling those same emotions! The thoughts were swirling in our heads: Would she be okay? Would her teacher know how to support her? Would she be able to make friends with her classmates? What will happen when she gets overwhelmed?”
In this article, we compiled some recommendations from the team here at The Forgotten Initiative that we have used to make the start of a school year great.
CONTINUE READING →
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