Description

CORE TEEN (Critical On-going Resource Family Education)

Session 3

Developing & Sustaining a Healthy & Supportive Relationship with Your Youth 

February 22^nd, 2024

6:30 PM-8:30 PM EST

Via Zoom

Stephanie Spires

2 credit hours

Navigating the teen years can be challenging. It is even more difficult for youth that have experienced trauma. The University of Kentucky Training Resource Centers, in collaboration with DCBS, will offer training to equip foster and adoptive parents to meet the needs of older youth who have moderate to serious emotional and behavioral health challenges.

During this CORE (Critical On-going Resource Family Education) Teen Training session #3, parents will discuss ambiguous loss. Ambiguous loss is a feeling of grief or distress combined with confusion about the lost person or relationship. With ambiguous loss, there is no verification of death or certainty that the person will come back or return to the way they used to be. Ambiguous loss is a loss that occurs without a significant likelihood of reaching emotional closure or a clear understanding.

There are two types of ambiguous loss:

• When a person is physically present but psychologically unavailable.  
• When a person is physically absent but psychologically present.
  (This type most commonly occurs in foster care and adoption.) 

Foster and adoptive youth feel ambiguous loss when they are removed from their homes, change schools, and have multiple placements. Each incident requires them to lose a friend, a connection, and a sense of familiarity and trust.  Dealing with ambiguous loss can create grief, confusion, fear, and uncertainty in foster youth.

As a result, foster/adoptive youth who have experienced trauma may struggle with building relationships and behavioral issues. To help children better manage these repeated traumas, foster and adoptive parents, must be sensitive to the role ambiguous loss plays in foster and adopted children’s behavior. During this session caregivers will: 

• Determine the impact of loss and grief on teens. 
• Learn how to increase attachment and strengthen their relationship with youth. 
• Learn how to deepen their connection with their youth or the youth they will parent. 

This session will help to mitigate the trauma associated with ambiguous loss and grief. It will help to strengthen the parent/youth relationship and set the foundation for creating other healthy relationships.

To learn more about this program, please feel free to contact Carla Jordan, TRC Training Specialist, at carla.jordan@uky.edu or 1-833-859-3278 (1-833-UKY-FAST).

Please note each session is approved for ongoing, elective training credit for Kentucky Foster Parents. This program also meets the requirements for CarePlus Training. Basic & Advanced Foster Parents, Fictive Kin Foster Parents, Care Plus, or Therapeutic Foster Parents can all take advantage of the opportunity to fulfill their training hours. A reliable internet connection and computer/smartphone with webcam are required.