Systemic Trauma in Foster Care
By: Hannah Adkison
It was 2am and the police lights were still circling around the house. I had just put two elementary aged kids in the back of my car, their mom and her boyfriend in the back of a cop car nearby. They had put some of their belongings into a bag, at least what they could find in under 10 minutes in rooms that clearly hadn’t been tidied in weeks or months.
“Where are we going?”
I don’t even know yet. We just got emergency custody and the placement team is working to see if these two have to go to a shelter tonight or if there’s a home ready for them. They’ve known me for less than an hour. I’ve asked them to get in my car, to trust me to keep them safe. They make a joke with each other and their resilience brings me some comfort in the midst of a night I know they will likely be working through for the rest of their lives.
It’s a necessary intervention: their mom had escalated into violent behavior and due to multiple circumstances, was not in a place to be a safe caregiver for them at this time. So we drive away and I hope and pray that a family will be available to care for these kids tonight.
I have countless memories like this from my years as an investigator. Memories of teenage boys begging me to not remove them, claiming they can protect their mom from their dad. Of babies in car seats undergoing withdrawal symptoms and toddlers crying for their moms. Of moms crying back, unsure of how they made it to this point— many of them ready to make necessary changes, but having very little support system to do so.
When we think of foster care, we often think of the traumas a child has undergone before the state stepped in: domestic violence, substance abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, and so forth. All of it is horrific and I will be the first to tell you how thankful I am for the intervention of Child Protective Services across the nation, despite some shortcomings. (Read a more in depth explanation of the Child Welfare System HERE.)
What we don’t think of, though, is what happens to kids during and after this intervention, as they interact with the foster care system. Often unintentionally, additional trauma can embed itself while navigating this emotionally and psychologically taxing time. We call this Systemic Trauma.
The last thing we want is to re-traumatize an already traumatized child and yet, to be honest, there’s little way of getting around it. Let’s look at a few examples:
Investigators come to your house with the police (who you may already have a negative connotation of), to take you from the only parent you know, even if he or she has struggled to be a safe parent.
Getting into a social worker’s car to go to an unknown place to “process your paperwork” and find you a “placement” is just as scary at 13 years old as it is at 3 years old.
You have school tomorrow. What will your friends say when you don’t show up? When will you see them again?
And what if you have 2 younger siblings? Maybe there’s a family willing to take your 2yo brother and 4yo sister, but you’re 13yo and no one seems to want you. How do you cope with the absence of your siblings, who you’ve been responsible for their entire lives?
Your mom just got arrested. Do you have to go visit her in jail? What does that do to your view of her? How does that make you feel?
All these scenarios, questions, and many more are faced by children and youth entering foster care every single day. The often complex trauma embedded before foster care and the systemic trauma inevitable with entry are not always controllable, but as foster agencies and parents, we have the ability to prevent as little of that continuing as possible.
When a child coming into care has a bed waiting for them in a protective and loving home, it changes everything. Being a foster home matters, even if just for one child who finds solace under your roof.
We get to be healthy, consistent, supportive places for youth to heal. We get to stay, even when it’s hard or we’re pushed away. We rally around reunification, knowing that when it’s safe, it’s the best possible outcome for a child we love. We get to provide an ear to listen, a hug when the nightmares come, and a hand when the road doesn’t go the way they thought it would. We can’t always prevent how traumatic things were before we met a child, but we can provide space for them to flourish for however long they need.
For the runaways and the high school graduates. For the cussing and the celebrating. For grief and greatness. At YCP and all the other wonderful agencies we do this work alongside, it is our immense honor to be included in the amazing, resilient lives of foster youth all over Orange County.
Would you come alongside us to do the same?
Email ycp@orangewoodfoundation.org for more information on how to get involved.