BRIDGING BIOLOGICAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
by Heather Noel, Content Manager
“Is there any kind of routine y’all enjoyed that they might like us doing with them?”
“Are there any songs you sing to them that you would like us to sing together to remind them of you?”
“Are there any food suggestions you have?”
A few simple questions and spirit of grace may be all it takes to bridge a relationship that helps a family find restoration. Children most often enter foster care, not because they have bad parents, but because they have unsupported parents. Parents who simply need a healthy support system and skills. Parents who need healing from their own trauma history.
While they may have failed, they don’t have to be viewed as failures. What if foster parents were the biggest cheerleaders of biological families? What if trust was built and a relationship established? What if parents were given the support system they needed to become healthy and find healing?
How would the child’s experience while in foster care change? How would outcomes change?
We recently shared that our Area 9 Connected Foster Care team launched a pilot program in partnership with our sister ministry, Desired Haven Family Care, to provide advocates for the biological families of children placed in our Connected Foster Homes. The team hasn’t stopped there in their mission to see families reunified. After seeing the need for children placed in foster care to experience familiarity and for trust to be built between foster and biological families, they saw the opportunity to bridge the relationship with biological families by implementing family journals.
When a child is placed in one of our Area 9 homes, they are provided a journal where the foster parent can communicate with biological families. The Miller family recently shared a several page update in their journal that was sent on a family visit with their Connected Caseworker. Amanda, the foster mom, shared with the biological mom day to day details on how the children were doing and encouraged her,
“June is reunification month and I personally wanted to let you know that we are praying for that very thing. We love YOUR babies and love being able to care for them but we want to fight this battle with you and not against you. They love their mommy and daddy and can’t wait to return home to you.”
The journal was met with gratitude from the mom and helpful information for the foster family.
The goal of our team is to see the children placed in our care have a better experience while in foster care by helping them maintain connections and familiarity. Ultimately, they want to see healthy reunifications. Often, biological parents simply need someone to believe in them and encourage them, which will pave the way for empowering parents with the resources needed to reunify their children to a healthy family.