It’s helpful for foster parents to understand a few psychological terms. I’ll put them here when I write about them in my regular posts:

Projection

Projection is when somebody attributes something bad to the wrong person, because it is too scary to attribute it to the right person. For example, it is very common for foster children to attribute neglect from their birth mother to the foster mother. (Wikipedia entry)

Trauma

In layman’s terms, anything that happened that causes, or might cause, your kid to have nighmares about. Here are some examples: obviously, actual abuse. Being hit. Being raped, that kind of thing. But also being hungry without a parent who could be trusted to bring some food on a consistent basis. Of course, being removed or separated from parents (regardless of whether they were good or bad parents) or siblings. Your kids’ life likely has been full of trauma.