Children in Limbo Task Force

What is Limbo?

Limbo was originally a Christian medieval term given for the resting place of souls without fault that were deprived of heaven, and is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.” This concept has been applied by child welfare to the prolonged period of time in which children are deprived of permanency. Although there are many reasons why a child may be “in limbo”, the destabilization of children’s lives while they remain in limbo undermines the development and continuity of important relationships resulting in severe emotional and psychological costs. The goal of the Children in Limbo Task Force is to identify, describe and illustrate the factors and issues both clinical and court-related, which contribute to children remaining in limbo unnecessarily.

New Blog/Article: Sounding the Alarm

What is going on in Child Welfare? 

In our peripheral prospective, we have come to understand the presence of some significant struggles in the Child Welfare Sector. Hearing stories of workers at the brink, feeling immobilized by a system focused on a business model, struggling to do good work within the policies holding them back.  Stories of programs known previously to provide great benefits to families closed due to lack of funding. Media reports of children displaced, failed by the system, families left behind.  This is not the child welfare system we had known and loved.  We felt compelled to act and take a closer look at what is happening, what is working, what is not working, and what can be done.  Read the full article here.

Healing Hands

The Children in Limbo Task Force published “Healing Hands: A Toolkit for Helping Placed Children with Loss and Separation,” and launched in 2023.

This guide is really about a call to action that we, as a Task Force, have had the personal opportunity to feel and be a part of over several decades of experience. The themes raised are not new to Child Welfare and are embedded in all of the practices we implement daily. This guide is intended to provide tools, examples and ideas that will allow child welfare workers to more easily provide support that they desire to offer to the families who so desperately need it.

For more information and to buy copies of the book please contact the Children in Limbo Task Force: taskforcechildreninlimbo@gmail.com

 

Children At The Centre

The Children in Limbo Task Force published “Children at the Centre: Their right to Truth and Voice,” and launched in 2019.

The publication reflects many of the ideas presented at our Symposium held at Jewish Family and Child in November 2017. The authors are professionals in child welfare and their chapters present useful information for people who work in the field.

For more information and to buy copies of the book please contact the Children in Limbo Task Force: taskforcechildreninlimbo@gmail.com

 

The Heart that Silence Built

“I pretend I am somewhere else

I feel lonely

I worry about losing faith

I touch heave

I cry for freedom

I am strong and beautiful”

Written by our very own CLTF Member and Lived Experience Advocate, Wendy Hayes.  Healing from many of the unspoken pains of her adoption journey, Wendy explores themes of love, family, loss, grief, and trauma with this book. Silence, and its impact on identity, is another major theme explored, with hopes that it will touch the hearts of so many adoptees that hold unspoken truths about their journeys. Wendy started writing poetry the year her younger sister was born, and this book features work authored between the ages of 12 and 30 from a complex adoption journey.

For more information and to get your own copy, visit https://heartthatsilencebuilt.ca/