How Do You Help Neglected or Abused Children to Trust and Love Again?
As uneasy as 2020 has been for us all, we still want to celebrate the legacy of 40 years at Collins Home. In doing so, I want to revisit an article from November 2016 and see how evergreen these words are.
We want our children to be kind and compassionate and to value individual differences.
Children with a Painful Start in Life Find it Difficult to Trust
One of our many challenges here at Collins Children’s Home is helping our children learn to trust again, feel safe, and know that the house parents caring for them actually WILL take care of them.
They don’t have to worry about being physically hurt, what they’ll eat, where they’ll find shoes that fit, or how they’ll get a pencil and paper for school.
They come to believe and expect their needs will be met in a Christian environment. But more than that, they see our staff show love and concern not only for them but our community, too.
Through acts of service for others, they begin to understand that it’s not about ME, ME, ME.
We try to demonstrate unconditional love for our kids in all situations so they can witness us showing compassion for others...
We Show Compassion to See Compassion Among the Children
We want our children to be kind and compassionate and to value individual differences. We try to demonstrate unconditional love for our kids in all situations so they can witness us showing compassion for others regardless of the circumstances.
It’s amazing how kids can sometimes do a better job of teaching us what we set out to teach them. One of the things I find so wonderful about Collins Home is watching our kids care for each other.
My heart hurts for our children and all that they’ve been through in their young lives. It’s beautiful watching them look beyond differences as they show love and compassion for one another’s life experiences.
They understand the hurt of another foster child like no one else can, and their effort to ease the pain for them makes me so proud.
Our children remind us every day we are all children of God and should always treat each other with dignity and respect.
Encouraging our Children to See Goodness in Others
Especially in today’s uncertain times when so many are feeling divided, hurt, angry, and unheard. I pray that we can be the Godly examples our children need.
To teach by example, encouraging them to see the goodness in others…openly show love and compassion to everyone…laugh more and complain less…instead of telling others how they can do better, focus on how we can do better.
A great verse to sum up this post is Colossians 3:14: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in unity.
Over the last 40 years, the Collins Children's Home community has shown the Collins kids that we are all in this together. Life may have started painfully and with uncertainty for our kids. But, a community like ours can embrace each other to change the outlook on the future.
Interested in learning how you can get involved or donate to the Collins Home?