For many children in foster care, school provides a respite from challenging home environments that some children face. Sometimes, summer break can result in periods of diminished mental health for children, as well as periods of difficulties. It is important to recognize that summer break isn't always a good thing for these children.
During summer, children who rely on school as a positive and safe space can go through feelings of separation, depression, and hopelessness after losing interaction with mentors, and friends.
In some cases, siblings who have been separated may not have contact with their siblings other than during school, depending on their circumstances. Whenever a child is separated from their family of origin, sibling connections may be the last thing that remains, and losing this for a few months during summer could be very hurtful for a child.
Many children in foster care thrive on the predictability that is provided by school. Without that structure, behavioral challenges and anxiety can increase. Instability can have a big impact on developing brains.
For some, summer can also mean inconsistent access to nutrition. During school, foster children can come to depend on school meal programs, and by losing that during summer, they can face food insecurity. In addition to this, during summer, a lot of children face placement changes. Caregivers may go on vacation, summer camps may fall through, or children may be left with gaps in their care.
Whenever a child has experienced trauma, and long-term stress, it can be debilitating for a child. Finding a stable relationship with a caregiver can help children overcome trauma, and thrive, even through difficult circumstances.
A stable caregiver can provide a secure emotional base, allowing a child's brain to develop healthy neural pathways. It is proven that a predictable caregiver can lower the production of the stress hormone, cortisol. Whenever this chemical is elevated, it can negatively alter the brain's development.
Children who know that they have a caregiver who is consistent, caring, and always there for them feel safe enough to explore their environment, develop independence. This also gives them space to self-soothe, learn proper emotional responses, and it teaches them how to build healthy and empathetic relationships.
By becoming a foster parent for a child in need during their most difficult seasons, you can help change their lives.
During summer, foster placements are often needed urgently. If someone began the process today, they could be licensed by this fall. You don't have to be available 24/7 to become a foster parent, and you don't need to be perfect. Not every week needs to be planned, and not every week needs to look like something out of a magazine. Just providing a safe, loving, and stable home is enough.
A great way to help a child is by keeping them on a predictable routine. You can do this by making sure your child is aware of changes of plans, giving half hour, ten minute, and five minute warnings between transitional periods such as meal times, bed time, and before leaving the household.
By providing transitional periods for children, this can help them with emotional regulation, and can help in avoiding melt-downs, or the child becoming overwhelmed. You could also help bring more clarity to a child about their days by writing daily activities on a whiteboard, or a printable checklist so that they may visually track their progress. You can assign daily age-appropriate tasks such as making the bed, feeding a pet, or setting the table.
A recommended way to keep children on a routine is through the use of anchor points, instead of a rigid hour-by-hour schedule. You can do this by trying to keep the sleep schedules of the children close to the school year, serving meals at roughly the same time every day. You may also want to enforce 30 minutes - 2 hours of quiet time during the day for the child to recharge away from screens to read, do puzzles, educational activities, or to express their creativity.
You don't need to plan a trip to Disney, another country, or a road trip across the country. Here are low-pressure, and low-cost ways to make summer feel special for your foster children.
Something that a lot of foster parents don't know about is that a lot of state parks will allow free entry for foster parents. Most recently, the PARKS Act has been introduced which would grant licensed foster families free access to over 2,000 federal recreation sites by adding them to the America The Beautiful Pass program. This aims to remove financial barriers, and encourage foster children to engage with the outdoors to improve their concentration, school readiness, and physical & mental health.
Some other great activities could include creating a summer reading challenge, attending summer camps, pool days, family biking, local park events, outdoor concerts and movies, farmers markets, or even flea markets!
If it feels overwhelming to start, or you don't know where to bring your foster child, at the beginning of summer you could sit down and make a bucket list of all of the places and activities that you would like to do this summer! This gives you a great opportunity to get to know them more, know their wishes, and could create a great space for conversation to hear about some of their positive memories, or goals.
No matter what activities you plan, what you need to remember is just one person choosing a child every day could be what changes their life.
If you think you could be that person for a child, get in touch with LifeSpan Family Services today. We walk with you every step of the way.
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