A Craft Project to Help Adopted or Foster Kids Process Adoption Grief

How, oh how, can a foster or adoptive parent help their child through grief? They run as fast as possible from anything sad, right?

Here’s an indirect and creative way to approach the subject.

I have always loved this poem because I think it shows the painful reality and also healing involved in adoption.

It would be a neat project to do with the kids this weekend!

Get a big piece of butcher paper, finger paints, and markers and let them create their vision of their tree.

Then, ask them to apply the lightning to adoption, the tree to your family, and the uniqueness and beauty of your family that wouldn’t exist if the lightning hadn’t happened.

Let me know how it turns out, okay?

Here it is:

When a tree is struck by lightning, if it survives, it’s growth is altered. A knot may form where the lightning hit. The growth on one side of the tree may be more vigorous than on the other side, The shape of the tree may change. An interesting twist or curious split has replaced what might have otherwise been a straight line. The tree flourishes; it bears fruit, provides shade, becomes a home to birds and squirrels. It is not the same tree it would have been had there not been a lightning storm. But some say it is more interesting this way. Few can even remember the event That changed its shape forever.

(THE LOSS THAT IS FOREVER, by Maxine Harris)