Foster parents in training are sometimes asked to write down the ten people or things they value most on separate slips of paper. Next, they are asked to give up one, throw it into the trash basket, and discuss their loss among themselves. One by one, they are asked to get rid of the items they value, throwing the papers away as they reflect on what they have lot. Until finally they arrive at their last treasure. Give that up too. And that is how a foster child feels when he first comes to your house.
Now take this one step further. Time drags on in the new foster home but nothing happens. The child becomes attached and so do the foster parents. But still nothing happens. The child wonders if anyone really cares enough to make a family commitment. As hope for permanence declines, how long before the child gives up?
Foster children are family temps
Shuffled and shunted from home to home
Often passed along by time to graduation into independent living
Their affect flattened and neutered by society’s unconcern
No surprise that they strike back in dispassionate anger
Offending a society that has not befriended them