From an Agape employee wanting to share a story:
I am a licensed cosmetologist, and recently reminded the social workers that if they have any families who need help with their foster/adopt children’s hair that I would be willing to meet with the families and give them some tips on doing the children’s hair. Soon after, Social Worker Brittany Barnes was approached by one of her families who was unsure of how to care for and style her African American children’s hair.
Brittany contacted me and I then reached out to the family to schedule when I could come to the home to go over hair care and some styles with the resource mom. I came to the home with specialty products like shampoo, conditioner, leave in-conditioners, and gels for the family since, in my experience, most people do not realize that black hair needs products that are made for black hair.
I then spent about 2.5 hours in the resource home walking the mom through how to wash, care for and style her foster daughters hair. The resource mom was attentive and eager to jump in and try all the new things that I was suggesting. It was obvious that the child’s cultural needs, which includes hair care, were important to this resource family and that it was amazing to see that they had no hesitation in making sure that the child’s hair was being properly cared for.
The resource mother even shared with me that she asked the biological mother if she could show her how to do a style the girls hair during one of the visits. I was able to show her the proper way and frequency for washing the children’s hair, how to maintain and care for their hair on a regular basis and some simple styles that she can do herself.
It was a great experience and so nice to see the resource mom’s motivation and commitment to the care of her foster children.