I had planned on writing a new post last Wednesday following our last Pride Training session.... But it's been a little busy around here.

So last Wednesday, we discussed the importance of keeping Bio Families involved in the children's lives. 'Bio' is short for biological. We wrote out plans for ourselves entitled a "permanence plan" they asked us questions like 'what do you plan on doing tomorrow?', 'who do you plan on having with you tomorrow?' 'what do you want to be doing in one year, and who would you like have with you?' and then they ask similar questions for 5 years from now. Next, 2 people were selected from the class and the trainer came over to each of them and ripped their papers up and stomped on them. Wow. It helps to put things in perspective, obviously they were just papers, and we could have a bit of a laugh about it in the class, but the point came across loud and clear. We all have plans, and ideas and dreams for our future. When a child goes into care, some of the things we all take for granted, like waking up to see your parents or your siblings every morning, going to sleep in your owned bed each night. Having YOUR home to come back to after school each day. That all gets taken away, some for a while and some permanently.

We are given homework after our classes each week. Last week our homework was to complete a family tree. We are to try and included as much information as possible about our family members. It's another reminder that children who become crown ward have very little if any information about their family, health history, and so on. It's been fun for me to get a chance to do this. I am blessed to have a close knit family, in which I get a lot of love and support. I hope to be able to bring children into our home and show them love and support, even though they maybe going through a difficult transition period in their lives.