Other People's Kids

Training

Aside from our foray this weekend into species-neutral fostering, we also attended our first really-real training session.

Friday night there was a roundtable sort of thing with a panel of the more senior PATH foster parents in the area and an open-format general tell-all and Q&A. It was pretty interesting. I got to meet some of the other lunatics foster parents in the area and trade notes, which I suppose was the whole point of that session.

Saturday morning we sat while a psychologist regaled us with anecdotes and information regarding self-injurious behavior, primarily cutting. Cutting doesn't worry me, so long as it's not too deep. I've never done it myself, but I think I understand the motivations and how to handle it.

Saturday afternoon we were entertained by a teacher from a therapeutic preschool who obviously loved her students so much for the main reason that she basically considered herself one of them, much in the way I consider myself still a teenager in many respects. She ran us through how children from broken homes think, what motivates them, and so forth. A lot of that stuff is pretty counterintuitive until you think it through from their perspective. I liked her session the best of any of them, I guess, because she actually taught me stuff I didn't know.

I wonder how I'd do in her class.

Anyway, we had lunch with another fostering couple and traded notes with them. "Vicki" was there, so we got to say hi to her, and as a special treat one of the couples there was actually a longtime fixture in my old hometown where I grew up. They had actually traded kids with my folks, and we shared notes on one of Mom & Dad's last "projects" who had apparently been calling them lately. Interesting.

All in all, much more entertaining and informative than I expected. I actually look forward to the next sessions.

posted by Dan @ 7:08 PM