Moving Forward Research Paper

“In 2012, U.S. state and local child protective services (CPS) received an estimated 3.4 million referrals of children being abused or neglected… 686,000 children were victims of maltreatment” (U.S. Department of Health). Six-hundred and eighty-six thousand children have cruel memories of torture and time without love. Moving Forward is helping children not to forget about the abuse, but to work past it. Moving forward works with adoptive families and their children. Moving Forward provides therapy, activity groups with volunteers, and therapeutic activities. Gaining healthy relationships, techniques to deal with stress, and a better outlook on what they can gain from life will aid these children in becoming successful and happy. Moving …show more content…
Allowing the children to have time to create a relationship with their therapists allows for them to feel comfortable. Moving Forward also allows for any child who needs more time to create a relationship with their therapist to do so with more therapy sessions with their parents. After the child and therapist create a relationship, private therapy between the two begin. Allowing the therapist to understand the child and what they have been through. Understanding the child will later help the therapist put them into groups. After three weeks of private therapy sessions, half of the hour session is for a group session. Each group will be specific to the child’s age. “Since children have the natural ability to express themselves and resolve conflict through play, groups targeted at younger children will incorporate various forms of play into the sessions” (Karol Espejo). By having each group specific to age, the needs of the children are accurately taken care of. …show more content…
Moving Forward works toward guiding these children in building healthy relationships and trust. The peer groups will allow the children to create new friendships, not only with the therapist and other children, but their adoptive parents also. It is key for these children to learn how to create healthy relationships with others in order to be successful in their everyday life. The therapists will work with the children to show them not all people are abusive or “bad.” The children can take these skills and apply them in their lives. They will be able to create relationships in school and the community. The children will be able to work past their painful memories and create new ones with their newly gained friends and parents. While the children learn about relationships with others, they will also learn how to have a positive relationship with themselves. Most children who have been a victim of abuse think it is their fault the abuse happened; although, the abuse is not the child’s fault, their sense of self worth is minimal to none. Moving Forward will help give these children back their love for themselves and their sense of self worth. With everything the children will gain it will help them see what life has to offer