by Erinn Havig

A young boy, age nine – with so many different diagnoses that it looks like alphabet soup after his name; struggling in school and with his peers. What comes to mind?

 A hopeless case?

Will he amount to anything?

 As service providers, we see this situation over and over again.

We encounter caregivers who need a diagnosis in order to get the help they desperately need; they do not know what else to do.

This is where Children's Home Society comes in. We provide hope for this boy.

So often, it would be incredibly easy to think of the statistical outcomes that potentially await this young boy. He is likely to be in trouble at school – suspension, detention, and failing grades; not to mention drugs, illness and prison. This is the impact of trauma.

When we look at pop culture – books, comics, television, and movies, they consider different outcomes for this boy. Almost every single popular hero had trauma in their past, yet we know they can be heroic and strong. With the likes of Harry Potter, Spiderman, Batman, or Princess Leia, we look at what makes these heroes successful. Their perseverance in the face of adversity comes out of a strong support system – people who love them. It is the teachers, counselors, friends, family and neighbors who provide that resiliency development.

Kids like the young boy mentioned above can have these outcomes too. We can all be part of it.

It starts with believing he has the capacity to have a different life and then proceeding to do everything we can to help him get there. It is our role as citizens of the world to give every person a positive connection in their life. This does not include things that the state or Medicaid pay for – that is a minimum and not sustainable for many families.

Rather than thinking of a child as a sum of all his labels, we can think of him as a growing person and build on the strengths he already has. By using diagnostic criteria to identify and utilize interventions that are the most beneficial to him, we can pull in his support system and educate everyone to learn the most important skills.

That is what we do at Children's Home Society.

In Child and Family Counseling, we provide those tools to the child and his parents. Through Family Support and Early Learning Services, we support caregivers in being the best support they can be to their children and family. Oftentimes, we also aid in helping them process trauma they, as caregivers, had experienced themselves.

When families decide that they want to add another child into their home, we offer Adoption support. When kids and their parents need other solutions, we have Out-of-Home Care Programs. At the Children's Home Society, we come together to advocate for change and to give children and families the best chance at success.