Life is Hard–Can’t Siblings Be Together?

Twenty to thirty percent of siblings are separated when placed into foster care  in Clark County, Nevada. For the past decade with the help of the nonprofit group Child Focus, this rate has improved from a sixty percent separation rate.

“[Sibling separation] is a little known but deeply traumatic problem for foster children, who are already gasping for air in an unforgiving world.”

This group works with ten percent of the foster children in Southern Nevada. They sponsor a summer camp, host events that unite siblings six times per year and have just “launched a special program called “Share and Discovery,” in which 40 children get daylong activities with their siblings every other weekend.”

“It may not seem like much, but the program is therapeutically important. “Sibling relationships are the longest relationships most of us have in our lives,” Holland says. “They are supportive in nature, even when they don’t feel like it. For many children, it’s where they learn healthy ways to interact, including sharing and healthy competitiveness.””

This program has also helped increase the high school graduation rate  of foster children from forty to fifty percent.

Life Is Hard Can’t Siblings Be Together
[Las Vegas Sun 1/19/11 by  J. Patrick Coolican]

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