Stretch 1 of 7
Basecamp
This is what the child carried before they arrived.
Stretch 1 · BasecampEvery child reaches your home from somewhere. The wagon they bring is the wagon they had before. The wheels that were sound, the cracks already there, the canopy already up. Basecamp is the world the child carried before the trail with you began.
What this stretch feels like
Unknown, often mostly invisible, sometimes told in pieces.
What helps in this stretch
Background you can gather without pressing. A way to hold the child's story before placement without filling in blanks. Patience that the wagon will reveal itself.
What this stretch can look like
What the Basecamp stretch often looks like as you walk it with the child.
If any of these sound like the days you are watching the child move through, you are reading the right stretch. That is not a problem. That is information.
The child is arriving with a wagon you have not seen yet. You will learn its shape over time.
Records and reports tell some of the child's story, but they are not the wagon. The wagon will reveal itself in how the child walks the trail with you.
The wheels the child arrives with were built by people who came before you. Some were tended carefully; some were not.
The kingpin, the trust that holds the wagon together, has not been built with you yet. That work begins when the child arrives.
What the child carries in their toolbox today, however maladaptive it may look, was something they once needed to survive.
Where to read next
Recommended content for this stretch.
These pages are tuned to what tends to help while you are at this landmark. Pick one. You do not have to read all of them.
The Method in Full
Start with the shape of the whole framework. You do not need to memorize anything yet.
Find Your Child's Stretch
A short self-locator that points to the stretch the child is in.
For Foster Parents
Plain-language entry point written for caregivers who are brand new to trauma-informed care.
Next stop
Stretch 2: Settling In
“We are learning each other.”