A Day in the Life of This Child Advocate
The children Witte has fostered and adopted have all endured trauma. She said some of the children in her daycare would have nowhere else to go because of behavioral issues.
“We have a lot of children that have labels behind them. We call it the ‘alphabet soup.’ On a daily basis, we deal with behavior disorders — oppositional defiant disorder, reactive attachment disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder, etc.,” she said. “Our kids aren’t bad kids. They’ve just been placed in a lot of bad situations that kind of molded them into who they are.”
Witte keeps her life semi-organized with the help of her smartphone’s calendar app.
“The only things that are scheduled are meals and naps,” she said. “Trying to have a complete schedule will just backfire on you in daycare. You just always have to have your game face on. You never know how your day is going to go. They plan the day for you — their demeanors.”
Dinner is an especially hectic time of day because of all the mouths Witte must feed.
“I would have my 10 kids home, plus five for daycare and Justin and me to cook for,” she said. “I’m constantly feeding people. It can be tricky. There are certain foods the kids will eat really well, like tater tot casserole, and some kids only eat select foods. Sometimes you have to hide the veggies in the casserole.”
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