Yoga And Mindfulness For Kids in Foster Care, Group Homes and Residential Facilities
Gail Silver first saw the need for Kids in Care when she was working as a Philadelphia based Child Advocate attorney by day and as a yoga instructor by night. Witnessing the trauma and instability that her clients suffered, while knowing intimately the stability and emotional support provided by Yoga and mindfulness, Gail established Philadelphia’s first and only organization of its kind. Since 2002 Yoga Child has been reaching children in care, and today the Kids in Care program is available to provide affordable and consistent support to this tender population of children and adolescents.
Facts About Foster Care
- When a child enters the foster care system, he or she doesn’t know if or when they will be reunified with their biological family. The road can be long, unpredictable and often filled with hardship as emotionally wrought as the circumstances that resulted in their original removal from their home.
- Children are often moved from foster home to foster home, and sometimes in and out of group homes, some never finding a stable match with a foster family. This can mean frequently changing schools and neighborhoods, losing friends and their sense of belonging.
- Depending upon the circumstances, a child may or may not see their parents during their time in the system.
- A child’s assigned social worker, may be the only constant in a child’s life, until such time as the child is switched to another agency, or the social worker is reassigned, moves away or is in need of higher paying work.
- Social workers and advocates, can find it challenging to give each of their clients the attention they deserve, because as professionals, they too are burdened by an overcrowded system.
How Yoga Child Helps
Yoga Child’s Kids in Care program provides continuous positive support by providing the benefits of our weekly yoga and mindfulness classes to children in foster care. We’re able to do this by providing our program at reduced rates with the help of Yoga Child Trained teachers willing to work at reduced rates, with the support of Yoga Child Trainee volunteer teachers, and through your support.
Please consider making a donation, to help us offer a sense of community, strength and present moment happiness to at-risk children during this tender and vulnerable time when support is most needed.
Support Kids in Care
Help us build a yoga bridge to Kids in Care
- Are you an employee of a foster care agency or group home who would like to bring Yoga Child to your kids in care?
- Are you associated with or do you know of a non-profit organization that would like to “adopt” Kids in Care and fund a program at a particular site?
- Are you an individual or corporation that would like to make a donation to help support a Yoga Child Kids in Care program?
Is the answer yes to any of these questions? If so, please contact gail@yogachild.net or call 21 5 500 0498 to learn more about becoming a Yoga Child Kids in Care partner.