A Roadmap to Navigating Foster Care

Foster care can be a journey filled with all the ups, downs and bittersweet moments of life. Whether you are new to fostering or if you are already fostering and considering the permanency of adoption, these are big, complex experiences that can be helped with more education and a solid system of support. As you […]

A Special Blend

Miah Sommer and his Astute Coffee is helping youth impacted by foster care prepare for the workforce and beyond. In the bustling area of downtown Omaha, Nebraska, stands a unique, saucer-shaped structure. The single-story building houses Astute Coffee, a nonprofit social enterprise providing support and workforce development skills to youth impacted by foster care. Once […]

Game Plans: How to create stability through the summer months

Oh sweet summer time. Longer days. Campfires. Beach trips. Meltdowns. Ice cream. Nothing is more frustrating than meltdowns and challenging behaviors from our kids, interrupting our best-laid plans for a fun adventure. You see, while we dream of family bonding and making memories, our kids thrive on predictability and routine. While we’re trying to pack […]

Book Review: The Power of Being Seen by Roger Saillant

The inspirational book “The Power of Being Seen,” begins with a dedication to all adults and marginalized children. It urges adults to “never pass up the opportunity to see a marginalized child and encourage them.” The message to children is, “do your best to be open to the wisdom and guidance offered by adults who see you, and you sense are trying to help you.”

The chapters which follow continue to encapsulate these messages as author Roger Saillant writes a poignant story of how a child moved from home to home while in foster care and eventually found support from several people, mostly outside the homes, and sometimes within the four walls. He overcomes a number of challenges and traumas thanks to the positive values instilled in him by caring adults in his life. “The Power of Being Seen“ is a book of hope, resilience and the power to overcome all odds.

Talking about the book Saillant says, “My book is written as honestly as possible. Although it covers my childhood in care and at a time over 50 years ago, I believe the clarity of the psychological descriptions such as abandonment, anger, depression and the quest to be like others applies to most marginalized children growing up today.”

Written in the first-person narrative, the book is a memoir based on facts. From the very first chapter, the reader is drawn into the world of a small child — eponymously named Roger — living on a farm with foster parents. The impact of the rural location, the people around him and various situations that play out in his young life are recounted with poignancy.

As a reader, one cannot help but feel his sadness, uncertainty and momentary happiness. Life on the farm with his foster parents for many years comprised periods of manual labor, particular difficulties with his foster father and even encounters with his biological family — including his birth mother.

He speaks about an “emotional aridness” during periods of great despair, of a “tangled and confusing time” as he attended high school. He writes, “I was living in two worlds, the world of work and the world of school. I told no one at school what was happening at home because I’d learned that no one really cared nor could understand that world.”

Battling suicidal attempts and feelings of sheer helplessness, he candidly admits the reason he didn’t pull the trigger was a curiosity for life, about “what I might eventually miss.” He writes, “My life would just end without my experiencing the possibility of really good things happening to me.”

In high school, he finds a number of people who champion his cause in ways that have an everlasting impact on his later life. Highlighting the role of sports, academic success and therapy in paving the way for a better life, Saillant also details the role of the Aid Society and the various caseworkers who came into his life at various ages.

As the book progresses, Saillant’s life goes through many ups and downs but he finds comfort in the kindness of people who help him in unexpected ways. In the postscript Saillant writes, “I attribute my successes to the ability to collaborate with others and being able to adapt to people needing to be seen in various settings throughout the world.”

“The Power of Being Seen“ is a book worth reading for the sheer poignancy of a tale well told, of a successful life carved from blocks of childhood experiences that may have deterred a less determined person. Saillant is a powerful storyteller and “The Power of Being Seen” is a rich tapestry of foster care experiences you will enjoy reading.

The Power of Being Seen; ISBN: 978-1955568104; www.amazon.com, $8.99 (Kindle); $16.99 (softcover); $24.99 (hardcover)

Acknowledging Systemic Traumas

Earlier this year, in honor of National Foster Care Month, the White House issued a proclamation recognizing many youth in foster care “carry lasting physical and emotional scars from trauma.” One seminal study on trauma is the ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) study conducted by Kaiser Permanente in 1995. The original ACEs questionnaire asked participants 10 […]

Asked and Answered: Sibling Relationships

Relationships with siblings are among the most important in many people’s lives, and this connection is especially crucial for children and teens who have been separated from their families. But it can be challenging to nurture those bonds when siblings live in different homes. We asked current foster, kinship and adoptive parents what they do […]

Do Extracurricular Activities Help Youth?

A 2022 study reveals improved test scores among children with child welfare involvement, ages 11-17, who participate in structured extracurricular activities. At the same time, findings suggest high levels of participation aren’t necessary for improvements in educational outcomes. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma asked the question: does extracurricular participation improve academic performance, as measured […]

An Indigenous Idea for Baby Boards

In 2017, foster mother Jess Ahūgišįnįwįga Lopez-Walker welcomed a social worker into her Sioux City, Iowa, home as she prepared to adopt her second child, a baby girl. The enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska wanted the infant close to her body, to nurture and carry her the same way her people had […]