All children deserve to be in a family that is safe and supportive.

Poverty, mental illness, abuse, addiction, and desperation can cause parents not to be able to provide for their children. When this happens children can be placed into a system of care (called foster care) or be moved to live in an orphanage. In America and around the world thousands of children are in foster care…

Preparation, Distraction, and Substitution.

Recently, Elizabeth Occhipinti sat down with Valerie Peña, OT to discuss strategies for preventing negative outbursts. A video recording of that conversation can be found here: Tool kit strategies for preventing negative outbursts Here is one of the strategies to help prevent meltdowns that I help parents create and use. It can be part of…

Soaring

Today was windy. It was the kind of windy that audibly howls through your house, has the strength to push your car out of its lane, and tears slides off of swingsets (yes, this actually happened at our homestead today). And while stopped at a light, feeling the pressure of this blustery day rocking my…

the unknowing

As foster parents, we seldom get closure and a sense of ‘knowing’ that all will be okay in the lives of the children who pass through our homes. This can be incredibly difficult, and most foster families I know have to work hard to fix their eyes and yield to this lack of closure. Yet…

my fear isn’t based on the reality in front of me

I recently visited an amusement park. My friends and family would probably tell you that this particular park is one of my favorite places in the world. Steeped in my own personal history of childhood wonderment, now compounded with the joy of watching my children squeal with excitement as they swirl through the air, visiting this park is just short of heaven for me.