“It takes a village to raise a child” is an old African proverb that suggests that raising, teaching, and supporting a child is the whole community’s responsibility. At Bellewood & Brooklawn, we find that this proverb is especially true when raising a child in therapeutic foster care.
Kentucky has taken the lead in embracing a new, family-centered approach to foster care. Rather than deferring to child removal in difficult family situations, Kentucky has switched course to provide services, outreach, and support that helps families stay together. By embracing the Family First Prevention and Services Act (FFPSA), Kentucky has unlocked federal funds that will reshape foster care for the better and provide more options for families and children outside of residential placement.
When it comes to therapeutic foster care, there are a lot of myths and falsehoods that are untruthfully spread. Common misconceptions that we often see include therapeutic foster parents only in it for the money and that foster youth are irrevocably damaged. In our vast experience, this could not be farther than the truth! The foster families that we work with are bettering lives, and these resilient youth can live happy successful lives!
New life, spring, resurrection, resilience… all these words are in my head as we quickly move through the remainder of Lent and into the Easter celebration.
“When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other.” –bell hooks