About this episode

Jami and Vania Ferreira discuss the challenges faced by foster and adoptive families when dealing with a child who exhibits dangerous behavior.

In this episode of The Forgotten Podcast, Jami sits down with Vania Ferreira to address a sensitive and profoundly challenging topic that foster and adoptive families occasionally face but rarely discuss: what to do when your child hurts another child. Vania opens up about her family's lived experiences with severe behavioral challenges, trauma-induced chaos, and navigating the heartbreaking revelation of child-on-child sexual abuse. Vania shares the raw realities of her family's journey, which began under-prepared as an unexpected kinship emergency placement in late 2013. She details the intense initial year of dealing with extreme anger, threats, and violence from children who had been exposed to heavy domestic abuse. Just as their home was transitioning into a season of calm and trust, the family faced their ultimate nightmare when their child disclosed experiencing sexual abuse and vocalized an active intent to hurt other children. Vania openly describes the overwhelming whirlwind that followed, including police reports, hospital evaluations, state investigations, and a complete lack of public inpatient resources. Throughout the conversation, Vania details how this crisis…

People in this episode

Host: Jami

Guest: Vania Ferreira

Topics covered

• foster care
• adoption
• child behavior
• trauma
• child abuse
• family challenges

Keywords

• dangerous child
• foster families
• adoptive families
• child-on-child abuse
• behavioral challenges
• trauma
• family isolation

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