Focus on the Family with Jim Daly Helping Children Overcome Adversity and Trauma
Mar 30, 2026
Nicole Wilkie, director and author who grew up in a large foster/adoptive family, blends personal experience with research on resilient kids. She explores how presence, validation, and supportive relationships help children heal. Short practical approaches include separating feelings from identity, graded challenges, and nurturing a future-focused hope.
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Chaos Increases Need But Affirms Purpose
- Current era increases child mental-health risk but also frames purpose: kids are born for 'such a time as this.'
- Nicole links rising isolation, technology, and chaos with a call to trust God's redemptive plans for children.
Raised With Seventy Foster Siblings Shaped Her View
- Nicole grew up as a biological child among 70 fostered children; her parents adopted nine.
- That lived experience made vulnerable children 'people' to her and taught her to see God's redemption in their stories.
Support Children Through Trauma With Presence
- Be present, validate, lament, and offer hope when a child experiences trauma.
- Nicole Wilkie recommends eye contact, listening despite exhaustion, saying “this was hard for you,” and staying with the child while offering hope in God’s help.
