Kinship carers come from all sorts of backgrounds. A lot of kinship carers may have previous or current parenting experience of their own biological children, while others may not. However, parenting of biological children, whether current or years ago does not adequately prepare you to parent a child with a trauma background. Unfortunately, most of the children that come into care have undergone some form of trauma, and this will affect their behaviours, attitudes and ability to form relationships.
Trauma to the child can occur from the moment of conception. As the foetus forms and grows, it is exposed to what the mother is exposed to. This includes what she eats and drinks, such as consumption of alcohol and drugs or malnutrition, as well as her experiences of stress, violence and fear. This prenatal experience of trauma can manifest in a number of ways for the infant, including drug addiction or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). So even if the baby enters care at birth, they have already experienced trauma and may exhibit signs of this later in life.
Once the baby is born, trauma can be experienced both directly and indirectly. Physical and sexual abuse and neglect are often the first things to come to mind when people think of childhood trauma, but indirect exposure to violence, drug use, pornography, family violence, death, abuse and neglect of others also causes trauma. An absent parent, such as a mother affected by post-natal depression, can also lead to relational trauma. Pre-verbal trauma is still trauma, and can manifest in behaviours years after the trauma has ended.
It is likely that any child that comes into your care through a kinship placement will have suffered trauma at some point. It is also likely that as a kinship carer, you may have to deal with the family member/s that caused this trauma (whether it was their intention or not). This is a difficult and complex situation which you will need to learn to navigate, but which is different for every family, and which doesn’t come with an instruction manual.
Kinship care is not an easy gig, but it can be massively rewarding, and totally worth it. A safe place to live with love and security are only the start of providing a successful and fulfilling kinship care placement. You will also need lots of support, education and training, as well as dedication and persistence.
Knowledge is key when it comes to caring for traumatised children and teens. Every kinship carer should make trauma training top of their educational list. ACT Together periodically offers a foundational trauma training one-day course to both foster and kinship carers within the ACT. Speak to your carer support worker or case manager to find out when the next training day is available.
kinshipcircle.com.au 