Shadow Children

Evening Under The Stars is fast approaching. We volunteered to make two Shadow Children which will be auctioned off at the event. Each Shadow Child represents one of the almost 400 CASA kids served by PWC this year.
We started with the blank form. Froggy decided that these children were going to be modeled after the first two CASA kids she ever met. To her that meant a boy with red hair and a girl with long black hair. .

We rummaged through my scrap box and found some clothing for them. Froggy cut out the backing to stiffen up the fabric. Then we dressed them both. Their shoes are made of construction paper. We traced the feet and then cut the shoes out. Froggy wanted the little girl to wear Mary Janes like she does but then for some reason wanted to give her laces like the boy as well. I nixed that idea since these are to be auctioned off. Giving them their hair was easy and fun. We used yarn and gave the boy curls and the girl long dark locks. Their faces were very challenging and scary. But we got through it. I wish I had more pictures of the process but we got caught up in the doing and forgot to take pictures.

Froggy knows these "shadow children." CASA Kids are real to her but I don't think she had any concept of what being a CASA kid means to them. So to help her in that aspect and give her some empathy, we read a couple of books. Unfortunately I did not preview them before sharing them. They are intense. I was practically sobbing by the end of the second book. Both books deal with the idea of foster care in the most positive aspect possible and both are written from the perspective of the CASA kid.
The first book is Murphy's Three Homes. I specifically read this one first because the "child" is a puppy which helps to distance the situation just a bit. It deals with lots of the rough feelings a child in foster care deals with. Murphy thinks he is a "bad luck dog" because he has to go to a new home. Why should he behave since he is just going to get sent away eventually anyway? Eventually Murphy finds a "forever" home and learns slowly to trust.

The second book is Mama One, Mama Two. In this book, there is a more realistic look at the little girl's life before foster care and why she is where she is. It shows her tremendous love for her mother yet explains the relief and confusion she feels in her new home. Many foster children are very conflicted in their feelings towards their new situation. This books shows why and that it is ok to have those feelings. I love the tag line and feel it summarizes her feelings well. "Whenever Mama One comes home will be spring."