Being a Foster Child: The Tenacity of Reparative Illusion and Witnessing Parental Loss

ABSTRACT This discussion of David Price’s paper focuses on the tenacity of reparative illusion and the significance of witnessing parental loss. In recent years the witnessing concept has come into prominence in considering people who have suffered through major historical trauma, such as the genocide that occurs in war-torn areas. The author argues that some of the most despicable and destructive horrors occur in everyday, domestic life, plain for everyone to see, yet somehow impossible for people to see. The traumatic experience of many foster children is difficult to hear, yet must be witnessed to help them heal and mourn. It’s important for the clinician to hear, hold and contain all that the foster care survivor has endured. As clinicians, we need to recognize how difficult it is to relinquish the fantasy of the caring, nurturing mother who returns.