It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults.
– Fredrick Douglas, American abolitionist and speaker

Children around the world deserve safe, loving environments from birth. In areas where violence and unrest disrupts the lives and capacity to thrive of children and families, policies that provide foster care must consider how to continue the best standard of care. In the Exchange article, “Fostering Nonviolence: Respectful Care and its Importance in Raising Young Children” by Elsa Chahin, Anna Tardos, Ceceile Minott, Ronald Ssentuuwa and Priya Anaokar, each author offers a perspective from the lens of their geographical context.

Ceceile Minott and Priya Anaokar had this to say about helping children transition well from foster care in Jamaica:

“Standard operating procedures need to be outlined to guide the preparation of youth toward independent living. These need to be incorporated into the care management plan for each child. Building the capacity of the responsible agency and upgrading the technical capacities of staff, including caregivers, in alignment with these standards, will ensure that the efforts are translated to practice. It is also imperative that these efforts be captured through longitudinal and tracer studies of wards aging out of the system. Robust research will serve to inform programmatic efforts by assessing the strengths and gaps in these efforts. It will also ensure that voices of children, including those with physical, developmental and emotional challenges, dictate the agenda for their preparation to transit from care.”

What can we do within our care environments to consider and support the needs of children living in foster care or who come to our programs after fleeing unrest in their home countries? How can we provide them with safe, loving, and resourced environments, regardless of how long they learn with us?

Read the entire article to learn more about raising children with respect in difficult times.