For my mini-experience my group met with my professor, Dr. Dziech, from my youth abuse class. We discussed where you could volunteer to help children in need, what Buckhorn does, and what they stand for, and the effects that abuse has on children. The other part of the experience that only I attended was traveling to Buckhorn to paint one of the girl’s cottages. This experience taught me how children who experience different types of abuse at an early age, can have long-lasting effects from the abuse. It also showed me that these girls who have gone through abuse think differently at 15 and 16 than someone who grew up in a functioning household. I learned that there are many places to get involved in close to the college, and that there is a lot that just one person can do when dealing with children who have been abused. I hope that this knowledge pushes me to think about fostering or adopting kids. The effects of child abuse are awful, and knowing that I am not doing anything to take these kids away from their extreme pain, deeply saddens me, and I hope that in the future I cannot only have my own children, but adopt children who need the love and affection that their biological parents can no longer give. I also hope that this knowledge pushes me to also engage the community and make them aware of the signs of child abuse, to ensure that they can spot the signs and make efforts to take the children out of these situations as quickly as possible.
This is the cabin that we painted while we were at Buckhorn along with the group that went to Buckhorn.