While families in James City County are preparing to dress their children for Halloween, others are learning about how to foster those impacted by trauma.
“A lot of people might have experienced parenting before, but parenting children with histories of neglect or abuse is a bit different,” said Rebecca Vinroot, Social Services director.
James City County Social Services Department’s free six-week training session for potential foster and adoptive parents starts Oct. 3. The training, which occurs twice a year, is an intense series of sessions and online work to ensure that the families are prepared to provide a stable and safe environment for the children they’ll be fostering.
Vinroot said fostering a child always comes with unexpected challenges and joys, but the training sessions cover general topics that will help guide a family through the process.
“The individuals [in training] really care about helping the children be in a safe and nurturing environment,” she said. “They don’t want them to have to experience what they’d been experiencing in the past.”
One of the most significant aspects of the training is teaching parents to be “trauma informed” so they can recognize any behavioral concerns. These children range in age, gender and background but most of them need foster parents because they’re coming from a difficult situation, she said.
The families that decide to foster children have to learn not only to care for the child’s physical needs but their emotional needs as well. One of the best ways to do this, Vinroot said, is by making them feel normal and accepted into their new family.
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“We want people to do what’s right for their family,” Vinroot said. “We want them to make that foster child a part of their family and give them a sense of normalcy without disruption.”
Another aspect of the training is to teach foster parents how to interact with the child’s biological family. Vinroot said the goal of the foster program is always reunification, which means foster parents have to learn how to balance caring for the child and keeping them connected to their biological families.
On the flip side, foster parents sometimes stay in touch with the children after reunification—but sometimes they don’t. Vinroot said the training helps parents learn how to emotionally navigate either situation after caring for a child.
Overall, Vinroot said the Social Services Department is aware that fostering children can be emotionally difficult at times so the employees at the department make themselves available to parents at all times.
During the training, there are also co-trainers who have fostered children previously. Having the co-trainers helps provide trainees with information on real-life experiences from people who have actually gone through the process.
But with the vast array of ages and backgrounds, the training can’t cover every specific situation. To help with unique cases or to address individual concerns, members of Social Services meet with the families separately before, during and after fostering a child.
The training required to foster a child can take a lot of time and energy, Vinroot said, but most people who do it find the experience to be worth it.
“It’s a fairly intense process and not a decision people should take lightly,” she said. “If you make it all the way to the end, then we know you’re committed.”
To learn more, visit James City County online.
