Since 1993, Unity Care has helped to meet the housing and care needs of youth who are in the foster care system or are working toward independent living. Unity Care's unconditional care services help to ensure that children in foster care receive the stability and nurturing that they need to grow into healthy adults.
Children come to foster care because authorities in the system believe that they are not safe at home. The very fact of losing their familiar surroundings means that children in the foster care system are coping with the effects of trauma, while possibly also living with trauma related to abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
A child's response to foster placement varies with his or her age, temperament, and background. Some children experience intense fear, nightmares, or re-experiencing of trauma. Others take on the responsibility of the family breakup and struggle with feelings of guilt. Still others resent what has happened and act out against those who are trying to care for them.
Some children have difficulty forming attachments to their caregivers and may act out or resist connecting to the foster family. Others attach extremely quickly and display more overt needs, including a reluctance to separate.
In all cases, however, the child desperately needs the safety and security that he or she may be resisting. It falls to the foster family and to other stable adults in the child's life to show unconditional acceptance and the ability to cope with the child's feelings. When children start to truly feel that adults are there for them and can help them through their difficulties, they can begin to grow.
Children come to foster care because authorities in the system believe that they are not safe at home. The very fact of losing their familiar surroundings means that children in the foster care system are coping with the effects of trauma, while possibly also living with trauma related to abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
A child's response to foster placement varies with his or her age, temperament, and background. Some children experience intense fear, nightmares, or re-experiencing of trauma. Others take on the responsibility of the family breakup and struggle with feelings of guilt. Still others resent what has happened and act out against those who are trying to care for them.
Some children have difficulty forming attachments to their caregivers and may act out or resist connecting to the foster family. Others attach extremely quickly and display more overt needs, including a reluctance to separate.
In all cases, however, the child desperately needs the safety and security that he or she may be resisting. It falls to the foster family and to other stable adults in the child's life to show unconditional acceptance and the ability to cope with the child's feelings. When children start to truly feel that adults are there for them and can help them through their difficulties, they can begin to grow.
