A family having to leave their home, even though it is for their own safety, is a very scary thing for a child to experience. Many times, children are also forced to worry about what is going to happen to all of their siblings; will they be able to stay together or have to separate? Shiloh House is proud to be able to keep families together in their times of hardship.
At 10 o’clock Saturday night, eight siblings between the ages of three and sixteen needed to immediately be removed from their home for their safety. Because most facilities throughout Colorado are focused in certain age groups, keeping a family this large all together can be difficult to accomplish. Thanks to the hard work of Shiloh House staff at The Sanctuary, accommodations were made to ensure all of these siblings could stay together under one roof.
It is so important for families to stay together during these trying times, and Shiloh House works very hard to make sure to provide as smooth of a transition for the youth as possible. Melissa Larcom, Clinical Director, shares, “When children are removed from their families, especially when it is sudden like this was, it is critical to keep all of the children together if at all possible, so that they are able to support and care for one another in the uncertainty of their futures. In this case in particular…that young three-year old had to be scared and confused with everything that was happening, and it was crucial to his sense of safety that his oldest sister (the 16 year old) be there to support and help him.”
Bringing in so many children at once can be difficult. “It was overwhelming at first because of the number of children,” explained Shiloh House Counselor Becky Varty, “However, watching them all take care of each other, and how close they were, it would have been devastating to have had to separate them. They would not have done well at all. The younger six children, took their cues from the oldest brother and sister, as long as they were fine; the others appeared to be barely phased at all.”
Shiloh House will continue to work hard at promoting family stability for those that come into our care.
