Fostered and Adopted Children

Neuroscience shows that a child’s experience in the womb and their experiences in the first few years of their lives impact on their brain development. Consistently good enough parenting where the infant experiences love, nurture and a relatively stress free environment creates a brain that allows them to empathise with others, regulate their emotions,  feel good about themselves, form secure attachments with others in their life, be open to learning and enable a “bounce back ability” in the face of life’s stressors.

Adopted & fostered children face additional challenges.

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Traumatic experiences in the child’s early life, combined with placement moves, mould patterns of attachment and affects subsequent relationships, often resulting in children experiencing a negative sense of self, a difficulty in regulating their emotions, understanding the consequences for their behaviour, as well as their ability to signal to others when distressed.

The good news however is that the human brain has the ability to change throughout life and the ability for new neuronal pathways to form. Thrive works on this basis and creates an environment optimal for children’s brain growth.

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Even if you do not know all the details of your child’s past, you can get some simple, practical suggestions of how to rebuild their stress management system, help them to settle, and to feel they really matter. Most of all you can get some more ideas of how to have fun and really enjoy being together!