While serving children and their families, our hearts are tuned in to their care. So, what are we to do when we find out a child’s parents are getting or have gotten divorced? Here are a couple of thoughts as we seek to serve the family.
1. Ask Questions & Listen
Every family loves to be listened to and to be heard, especially families experiencing a divorce. Ask questions. Ask both surface questions as well as deep questions, and then your job is to listen. Truly listen. This type of listening includes repeating the same words and phrases back to the family to see if they agree with your statement. If they continue on in their conversation that means you’ve listened correctly. The main thing to be aware of with asking questions and listening is to always respect the level of information the family wants to share. Not respecting their level of privacy demonstrates that you as the caregiver are seeking to know information more than wanting to do what’s best for the family.
2. Volunteer consistently, allowing church to be a consistent place with a consistent face.
