Encourage your child to talk with you. Your comfort in speaking with a foster child about suicide (and his or her willingness to talk with you about these issues) may depend on many issues: your experience as a foster parent, how long the youth has been with you, his or her family’s cultural background, and whether the child is used to talking with adults about difficult topics. For example, some families talk things over, while other families are reluctant to discuss personal issues. Some families have a tradition of mutual support, while others encourage their members to be self-reliant. A family is shaped not only by its own history, but by the cultures the family belongs to. All of this affects the approach you select when initiating a conversation with your foster child about how he or she feels.
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