Fostering An Unbreakable Bond - Babywearing & Adoption
Shakella is a member of our Kinderpack Community who has so graciously shared her family's foster/adopt story with us. Read on to hear how babywearing has played a major role in the transition for her children. You can follow Shakella's story on her Instagram
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Different people foster for many different reasons. For my family, this wasn’t the 1st time we had fostered. We know and understand the goal of foster care is reunification and family preservation. For us, it means loving on any children that come into our home and creating the safest and move loving environment we can while a child is in our care.
My oldest child I wore out of necessity, being a single teen parent on the bus, so I was familiar with babywearing and it has been heaven sent! When I shared on Facebook that I needed a car seat ASAP and I didn’t need anyone to question me a friend reached out. Robyn offered me a ring sling and told me she would help me learn to use it. That was the 1st babywearing experience I had with a Ring Sling and it was a learning curve, but the benefits of wearing Jonah exceeded my expectations.
It helped so much in those 1st few weeks with having such a fragile child home from the NICU with multiple needs. Wearing Jonah allowed me to keep him close and provide the comfort needed. As he got bigger we tried out a few other babywearing items. We’ve used woven wraps and stretchy wraps. Jonah didn’t seem to care for the stretchy wraps. We have used ring slings and soft structured carriers. Of all the items we have tried our heart settles with soft structured baby carriers the most.
Of all 5 children, Jonah has been worn the longest and he is more attached to me than any of my other children. I wholeheartedly believe that is due to babywearing from birth. We didn’t go into fostering to adopt children but that is where it lead, and I’m glad that Jonah and Kai get to be adopted by their [first] family.
I won’t go into detail about my son’s story because I believe it’s his story to share if and when he is ready. However, babywearing has played a huge part in our bonding and positive attachment. At 3 year 4 months old I still wear him.
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Here are a few resources Shakella has shared for those who are considering adoption
https://savingoursistersadoption.org/
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We love to hear real stories by real babywearing parents! If you have a story about how babywearing has helped your family through a difficult time, please email it to us at info@kinderpack.com or tag us on social media for a chance to be featured here on our blog.