Foster Care Experience

Foster care is a system where a child is placed into a temporary or permanent home in order to provide proper care to children who need a home for a variety of reasons. For this cross cultural experience, I decided that it would be most beneficial to attend a foster child’s home and interview the direct source itself. Before this experience I expected the child to be living a completely different lifestyle from me. I also anticipated him to be severely influenced by all the changes in his life and I imagined him to be weak and strong at the same time. Weak for all the instability in his life, and strong for getting through it. Of course I expected him to be upset and depressed at least once in his life time but at this point in his age I also
I didn’t bother to ask him his situation on why he was put into one in the first place considering it was none of my business and on the personal side. During his years of foster care, before he was finally adopted, he had moved 14 different times into 14 different homes with 14 different new parents. Now to me, I was mind blown. I can’t even begin to imagine being surrounded by that many new people and having no stability. He had explained to me that each and every time he moved he was hurt just more and more because he had to live with the fact that he thought he was never going to be stable. When he would settle down in his new home he would get comfortable and begin to think he is finally stable and then he got a call that he would have to be moving again and he felt his heart crumble to pieces once again. After time and time of no stability in Dustin’s life it began to affect his school work because he didn’t have the energy to want to do anything. As a foster care child he was very hyperactive because he was constantly wondering if he was going to move again. As you can imagine that affecting his school work because of the trauma he had to deal
Depression in a teenager can impair their ability to learn and connect with peers when in fact it is an important time period for their academic achievement and social growth. As a teacher, I have the ability to act as an essential part of my students support network. But doing so is easier said than done. It requires a deep understanding of many faces of depression and the strategies involved. I have been through tough times at my age as well so I can take that and turn it around into something great by helping my students realize that they are not alone. As a teacher I need to be able to recognize the signs of depression right away and act in a supporting manner. As Dustin explained it affected his grades first. I promise to myself that as a teacher that could possibly be dealing with this that I will check in regularly with the student to drive home the idea that someone does care about them and they are not alone. I could check in with them personally after school or lunch or over email whatever is convenient for them. My most important job is to develop a relationship with these students. By doing so I will express unconditional support, avoid singling out the students for criticism, being specific in providing feedback, and using positive reinforcement. I will aid their educational aid emotional development by encouraging them to draw or even doing something as simple as lowering