may 18th celebration reminder

Hi blog family!!

I will be speaking this week at Mount Kisco Library!! you don't want to miss it!! my book will be up soon, everyone can learn from reading it...

thank you for the hard work you do to save or change the life of a kid in foster care!!! You are raising great leaders and warriors, teach them how to be there own hero's!!! xo Tanya

“IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD”

COME CELEBRATE NATIONAL FOSTER KIDS MONTH!

When: Wednesday - MAY 18TH

Time:       4:30PM - 6:45pm (Refreshments 4:30-5:30pm)

Where:   The Mount Kisco Public Library 

100 E. Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549

 (Conference Room 2nd floor)

• Motivational Speaker, Tanya Cooper, will be, sharing her experience in foster care, raising awareness on foster care issues, tell why fostering and adopting older kids is important, how we can help and read an excerpt from her new self help book for teens :  Surviving Foster Care And Making It Work For You!
• Awarding a youth aging out with The Robert Cooper Memorial Scholarship!
• One local Senior citizen will be recognized for helping youth! 

Extra Extra...Whimsical Wednesday Pre-empted 05/11 by tlbethel | Blog Talk Radio

Extra Extra...Whimsical Wednesday Pre-empted 05/11 by tlbethel | Blog Talk Radio

EX FOSTER KIDS UNITE: Each day gets better

EX FOSTER KIDS UNITE: Each day gets better: "Hi blog family!! today will be better than yesterday...if you are blessed to wake you have chance to make anything better! encourage someo..."

encourage

Hi foster parents/guardians!

I will try to keep this site short but daily advice and please write me if you have any questions..

Please encourage your child by verbal communication (letting them know they did a great job! or by showing them perhaps taking them on a family outing spending time and showing them how other familys and society operates when you are not worred all the time about your next home or if you will eat or be abused.... give them time to come out of a shell or to adjust to NOT being abused anymore... it takes patience and time to heal those wounds...and a great therapist who is NOT condesending but compasionate and care frontational.... (Dr. Straytner coined this term)...:) signing off

Tanya

Milgram's Obedience to Authority Experiment 2009 1/3

we are not clones

Hello foster parents!
Hope your child is developing and getting the love and attention they need and i hope they are bringing you and your family new lessons of love, patience and uniqueness..

Just a reminder to all parents: we were all made to love, be loved, heal, help, explore...each of us having our own unique pattern.
If god wanted us to all be the same or clones, we would have no brain..
Please allow your child his or her own space for making their own choices---even if we don't agree..they need to excersice this thought process of how to make a decision or a choice.
let them know they never have to follow the others-as most kids do and are trained to do...why do you think all our girls liked uggs at the same time??
 teach them young to enjoy being different and standing firm on whatever they believe, why is this important--so we dont repeat what was done to the native americans, slavery, or the holocaust...or the way the Irish were treated when they got here..
If your child is not comfortable saying "no" effectivly- they are likley to follow the crowd..and be hanging out with the bully--who beat up another child, as they watched.... this is all relevant.
you don't want your kid to "mind his business" when it comes to someone being hurt...teach them to stand up for themselves and others who are wronged...then , and only then we wont repeat history
xo Tanya
please feel free to post any questions, i am only trying to give you a heads up ...xo

an old message to new foster or adopted parents

Hi blog family!
I had a great time speaking  in Maryland :( My book is finally Done! "Surviving Foster Care & Making it work for you!" I will get back to you on a release date!

 What a great audience of proffessionals that really came out to support youth in foster care!
I shared my story and then gave some ideas I thought could help. For those that were in care I am sure you remember the day your worker came and got you!
I remember being hungry!!
1. I suggested that they bring a piece of food when they go to confiscate a child from their home...along with a camera..to preserve their history! I never had a picture of myself as a baby or before 7...and the one picture I had....my birth cousin took and never gave it back... it would have been nice to see a photo of myself when I first came into care..
2. Be careful what we write in a child's record--it follows them for the rest of their lives....I remember when i read I was "slow"--when i first came in care!! I felt they should have considered I came from an abandonment/neglect situation....whom could I have learned from??? I did not start school until I was 7 years old....
3, Teaching kids in care to think positive, that they will be there own hero at the end of the day...by going to class, finding good support, loving self etc...and finding their gifts and talent at a young age will give them confidence...nothing like knowing you have "something" people appreciate.. your sense of value is increased..
4. hiring ex foster care alumni like us, My book, workshops I created, the blog of encouragement...kids like familiarity...we have been there, done that and now as Oprah says...the AHHHHH moments, but we share it with the kids BEFORE they age out!!

I had plenty more but we only had 20 minutes.....know that alot of people are working to change the lives of kids in foster care, and the work you do as foster or adopted parents is vital!