Creating a Family Adoption & Foster Care Education

In this toolkit, which includes a video, facilitator guide, handouts, and resource guide, parents will learn why self-care is so important when parenting kids who have challenging behaviors or come to their homes with a history of trauma. Parents will learn about the realities of compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. In addition to learning how to identify the common barriers that parents face when seeking self-care, they will also learn how to form a plan for meaningful self-care. Parents who are in a significant partnership or marriage are encouraged to prioritize self-care for their relationship. This toolkit also gives a variety of practical ideas for creating the habit of regular self-care for themselves and for their relationships.

Parents will leave the support group with a better understanding of the following topics:

• Why self-care is crucial and how to identify the barriers to regular self-care they face
• The definitions of “compassion fatigue, “secondary or vicarious trauma” and how respite care can help
• Why relationship care is also vital for adoptive, foster, or kinship parents who are in a marriage or partnership
• Creative ideas and practical tools for incorporating self-care into their daily lives