Have you ever talked to a child about why they were placed into foster care? Have you ever looked a kid in the eye and explained why they were put into the system?
My brother is twelve years old now, which is old enough to understand some of the reasons why kids are placed into foster care. But he was only two when he came to live with us, and in kindergarten at the time of his adoption; there was no way that he would have understood the severity of foster care at that time, nor would my parents have even thought to have that kind of conversation with him then. Now he's old enough to show some interest in everyone's backgrounds, much like a biological child might start asking about family history at a certain age.
Of course, talking about foster care with a child depends on the individual child and their maturity level. While my brother just started asking serious questions about foster care a few weeks ago, my other brother was actually well aware of what was going on with his case between the ages of four and six. Each child is so different with what they can understand and handle at any given age. But I don't remember any other specific instances when a sibling of mine has talked to my mom or dad about their background or why anyone was put into foster care.
So I started with a question... Have you ever talked to a child about why there were placed into foster care? I'm really curious about what everyone has to say. Do you think that there's a specific age when you should sit down a child and tell them about their background prior to living with a foster/adoptive family? I don't really know if there's a good age to tell a child about the negative parts of their childhood. As I said, I guess it would depend on the child, but maybe it's better to wait until a child is at least in middle school. They need to be old enough to understand that the past is just where they came from, and that it shouldn't dictate where their future goes. But what do you all think?
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Taylor