Even though we love our children and want to see them, visiting children in foster care can bring up painful feelings for many parents. Sometimes visits are scary, stiff, weird, awkward, or sad. Our kids may act angry at us, or like they don’t care. Walking into the agency can make us feel like a failure. If you were in foster care yourself as a child, visits can also bring up feelings of abandonment. During visits, you may feel jumpy or angry from the

Rise’s TIPS handouts and video offer parents clear information and peer guidance so you can get to unsupervised visits faster.

Video

Parent-to-Parent Tips for Handling Supervised Visits with Children in Care

This video features three parents who speak from the heart about how they overcame painful feelings and anger, connected with their children, and moved on to unsupervised visits and reunification.

 

Handouts

Making the Most of Visits offers guidance from a parent advocate on creating routines, playing, handling tough questions, and saying goodbye in a positive way.

What You Need to Know provides information about your legal rights, how to get more family time with your kids – and what will set visits back.

Handling Painful Feelings explains trauma and the pain that can come up in visits–and how you can cope.

Helping Children Heal explains how to handle your time with children when they come to the visits angry, hurt and sad. It also gives information on disciplining children in visits.

 

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