Fall 2022 Kinship Dinner Recap
We truly enjoyed hosting our kinship families this fall! There is something wonderful about getting back into the swing of meeting and connecting together in person.
Our goal during our kinship dinners is to provide support and care for kinship caregivers as they navigate their unique circumstances. We always provide dinner and childcare so our families can simply show up and take a break from the responsibilities of everyday life.
While each group is different depending on who is present, we consistently take the time to check in at the beginning of dinner, sharing the highs and lows of the realities of caring for additional children in our homes. Most participants find this time to be the highlight of the night, where they can be heard and seen in ways that others can't necessarily relate.
Additionally we take time to discuss various topics that could be helpful for our caregivers to process. This fall that looked like encouraging our caregivers to consider what ambiogous losses they and their kiddos have experienced in recent months, make space to grieve those losses and also think of ways they could begin to incorporate self-care into their weekly routines.
A following group discussed the idea of the “window of tolerance”-the degree to which we are able to handle everyday stress. Stress and trauma can increase or decrease our windows. When our windows are narrow, we have limited ability to handle everyday life stressors and can be launched into either hyperactivity or hypoactivity. Being aware of one's own window and the window(s) of those we care for can help us be better equipped to handle stressful seasons.We discussed the current state of our windows and ways we could actively work to broaden our ability to handle more stress.
Our caregivers often tell us that the dinners are safe places for them. One grandparent noted that the kinship dinners help her to "know other families have the same issues and feelings" and provide a sense of community that is otherwise absent from her life.
“It helps to know other families have the same issues and feelings.”
Ensuring that our caregivers know they are not alone connects back to one of our core values, responsiveness. Responding to our caregivers needs it a priority for us and one of the ways we live out our mission statement of "equipping our neighbors to flourish".
We look forward to seeing our families once again in the spring!
