Introducing the Nine Essential Skills of Trauma Informed
Care: Why Knowing the Skills are Important.
(This document can be given to parents are pre-service training, during
the homestudy and following placement when used with the
Adoptive/Foster Family Care guide.)
1. Resource parents recognize the impact of trauma has on a child.
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Trauma has a potential life altering impact in every developmental area for a
growing child.
Trauma can change the child at the core of who he/she would have been had the
trauma not occur.
Parents of children with a history of trauma must parent differently.
2. Resource parents help the child feel safe by maximizing the child’s sense of safety:
 Traumatic stress overwhelms a child’s sense of safety and can lead to a variety of
survival strategies for coping.
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Safety implies both physical safety and psychological safety.
 A sense of safety is critical for functioning as well as physical and emotional growth.
 While inquiring about emotionally painful and difficult experiences and symptoms,
workers must ensure that children are provided a psychologically safe setting
3. Resource parents help the child to understand and manage overwhelming emotions:
 Trauma can elicit such intense fear, anger, shame, and helplessness that the child feels
overwhelmed.
 Overwhelming emotion may delay the development of age appropriate self-regulation.
 Emotions experienced prior to language development maybe be very real for the child
but difficult to express or communicate verbally.
 Trauma may be “stored” in the body in the form of physical tension or health
complaints
4. Resource parents help child to understand and modify behaviors/and understand the
impact of trauma and subsequent changes in the child’s behavior, development, and
relationships
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Traumatic events affect many aspects of the child’s life and can lead to secondary
problems (e.g., difficulties in school and relationships, or health-related problems).
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These “secondary adversities” may mask symptoms of the underlying traumatic stress
and interfere with a child’s recovery from the initial trauma.
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Secondary adversities can also lead to changes in the family system and must be
addressed prior to or along with trauma-focused interventions.
5. Resource parents support and promote positive and stable relationships in the life of the
child:
 Separation from an attachment figure, particularly under traumatic and uncertain
circumstances, is highly stressful for children.
 Familiar and positive figures—teachers, neighbors, siblings, relatives—play an important
role in supporting children who have been exposed to trauma.
 Minimizing disruptions in relationships and placements and establishing permanency
are critical for helping children form and maintain positive attachments
6. Resource parents help the child develop a strength based understanding of his/her life
story and to make new meaning of their trauma history and current experiences
 Traumatic events affect many aspects of the child’s life and can lead to secondary
problems (e.g., difficulties in school and relationships, or health-related problems).
 These “secondary adversities” may mask symptoms of the underlying traumatic stress
and interfere with a child’s recovery from the initial trauma.
 Secondary adversities can also lead to changes in the family system and must be
addressed prior to or along with trauma-focused interventions.
7. Resource parents are to be advocates for a child/ have willingness to coordinate services
with other agencies/advocate for a child
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Others may not understand the impact of trauma on a child
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Others (teachers, coaches, etc. may not know strategies for helping others a child
overwhelming emotions and problem behaviors
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Others may not approach a child from a strength based perspective
8. Resource parents promote and support trauma informed focus assessment and treatment
for a child
 A child who has experienced trauma needs to be evaluated by a trauma-focused mental
health professional
 A thorough assessment can identify a child’s reactions and how his/her behaviors are
connected to traumatic experiences
 A thorough assessment can also predict potential risk behaviors and idneify
interventions
9. A Resource parent takes care of himself/herself and has willingness, ability and
understanding in evaluating their own personal response to the child’s behavior and unique
needs:
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Parenting a child with a history of trauma can have grave implications for a parent who
doesn’t understand the need for self-care
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Parents need to be able to recognize their own symptoms of secondary trauma and
know how to get help
From the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Trauma Toolkit and Resource
Parent workshop www.nctsn.org