Family life center Fostering healthy life skills
A little background on portland rescue mission,shepherd's door and the Flc
- ALL IMAGES AND INFORMATION IS FROM pORTLAND RESCUE MISSION'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://www.portlandrescuemission.org/
mY ROLE AS A VOLUNTEER |
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- I have committed to at least a year to working with the staff and children in the Family Life Center (FLC) because it takes time to create meaningful relationships with the children. Many of the children have come from difficult situations of possible neglect or abuse. They may have been moving from family to family in Foster care or had absent parent(s) so they need consistency to build trust in other's, adult's in particular. As the staff work to foster healthy life skills and relationships with the children, I as a volunteer are there to assist them. I am there to hold babies, keep the children engaged and active in healthy nurturing ways. We give the children choices when they are acting out, the choice to stop their behavior, apologize or be punished with a time out or taking away a toy from them. By giving them the choice before immediately punishing them builds their autonomy and critical thinking. I help out with many tasks like outside and inside play, snack time, educational lessons and sometimes nap time. I am particularly involved in the play time and bring fun crafts for the kiddos to do during free play time and better build on my relationship with each child.
DUTIES
- Establish and commit to a schedule (at least a year)
- Assist staff
- Interact/play with the kiddos!
- Give choices
- Plan and coordinate some craft activities for free play time
- Love on the kiddos/ foster trusting relationships
Changes seen in my time in the flc
When I first began, there were a couple of little girls that were immediately interested in me as a play mate but the rest of the children were much more guarded and kept to themselves. Some even frowned at me when I arrived, but as time has gone on and consistently coming at the same time each week, that same child that frowned at me came over to me and wanted to sit on my lap and play together. These are the transformations that mean so much, not only to me but I know that the children are learning to trust adults and build healthy attachments. I have also seen children build better relationships with other children as well. When in the beginning a child had a difficult time playing with others because they didn't want to share or would easily get upset or feel left out, I now see them playing well together, sharing, talking and trusting each other. They can talk out their feelings when one gets upset.
Also, among the infants, I have seen vast developments. Being exposed to how quickly very young children develop has amazed me. Watching an infant learn to walk and build their sensory motor skills and how quickly they learn, I can tell a difference in their skills even between the weeks.
Also, among the infants, I have seen vast developments. Being exposed to how quickly very young children develop has amazed me. Watching an infant learn to walk and build their sensory motor skills and how quickly they learn, I can tell a difference in their skills even between the weeks.
Moving forward
I look forward to continuing my work with the FLC and looking for more opportunities to help and affect needed change within Portland Rescue Mission and other possible organizations.