by: Julie Beem
“I’m so strong that I could destroy this whole house.” His declaration was matter-of-fact, not launched as a threat but to gauge my response. “Really?” I responded, “why would you want to destroy my house?” “Because I’m powerful enough.”
Knowing that I was conversing with a child who has experienced trauma cued me to say what I thought he was fishing for (a safe, in-charge response). “Well, I’m strong enough not to let anyone destroy my house, because we have a safe home here.” I watched that message sink into his brain and saw his whole body relax. It was then that he was able to follow through on the request I had made of him “Sit down and eat your lunch.”
Friday, October 11, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Hugging A Stranger on the Plane
by: Julie Beem
No, this isn’t a blog
about indiscriminate affection. And no,
this is not a mom you will read about in a sensationalized report on
“underground adoptive/foster families”.
But it happens much more often than most people know.
Coming home from the ATTACh conference days ago, I plopped
my exhausted self in the aisle seat next to a married couple and pulled out one
of the adoption books I had acquired at the conference. The cover had the words “adoptive and foster
parents” on it.
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