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to help our kids heal from trauma, regulate their nervous systems, and build trust.
playground
Playground Project Proposal
“As an adoption-competent therapist, I’ve seen the power of movement and play in regulating children’s nervous systems and fostering attachment within families. Play has an important role in allowing for felt-safety and connection.”
- Nikki Outten, LCSW
OUR MISSION
We find safe, loving, permanent families for children in foster care. Our children have experienced significant trauma, abuse, and neglect that has impacted their brain development.
Our children and their caregivers need the specific training/support that we offer for life, at no cost to them.
With these supports, our children are at a lesser risk for failed adoptions, trafficking, addiction, houselessness, abuse, and incarceration.
WHY ARE WE BUILDING A PLAYGROUND?
Children use play to help them cope with and heal from the most emotionally impactful events in their lives.
Encouraging children to run, climb, jump, stretch, and swing, allows them to release energy in their bodies which reduces the long-term impact of trauma on vulnerable brains and bodies.
Trauma creates feelings of helplessness and overwhelm in children.
Play builds resilience by allowing them to regain a sense of control through opportunities to make choices.
THE EFFECTS OF PLAY ON THE BRAIN
Climbing, swinging, and hard landings (like when you reach the bottom of a slide and your feet hit the ground) are good sources of proprioceptive input. Kids who participate in proprioceptive activities tend to have better self-regulation and lower anxiety levels. This is because engaging in these activities helps children improve their cognitive skills, sensory processing, and emotional awareness.
Play helps children affected by trauma by:
● Helping them learning social-emotional skills
● Developing an awareness of body sensations
● Naming, managing, and expressing emotions
● Strenthening problem-solving skills
● Making friends
REAL LIFE STORY: THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
As a mom of 6, I didn't realize how important "play" was, until our youngest son came to us with some pretty big sensory integration struggles.
I was referred to an agency in Wilmington who specialized in play therapy and I began taking him there two times a week. Their goal was to push him to the edge of his comfort zone with all the various swings, slides, and climbing equipment they had set up.
I was skeptical at the effectiveness of this at first, until I began to see a difference in his ability to regulate his responses.
Soon we were able to take him places without being worried that we would have to leave because something upset him. He became a more confident and "settled" version of himself.
We are so grateful for the difference it made in his life... and in ours.
Kim Bryfogle, ABCFOC mom of 6Proposed Playground Design | Blueprint and Renderings
Our playground design inlcudes ADA-accessible features like a bucket swing with a harness, ground-level sensory activities, and pour-in-place rubber surfacing, which also saves in annual maintenence costs. There are plenty options for climbing and there is even a tunnel “hideaway” for when children become overstimulated and need a break.
Children
P Pr epared F or:
Miracle Recreation Equip. Co.
878 E. US Hwy 60
Monett, MO 65708
1-888-458-2752
QUOTE: R0094248012
Project: R0094_45323390442_02
Pr oject Name & Location: P Pr epared by:
Heather Holiday Liberty Parks and Playgrounds, Inc
A Better Chance For Our Children
1307 Philadelphia Pike Wilmington, DE 19809 4432053070 (phone) hholiday@abcfoc.org
Quote Number: R0094248012
Quote Date: 2/1/2024
Valid For: 30 Days From Quote Date
Attn: A Better Chance For Our Children 319 Wheatleys Pond Rd
Clayton, DE 19938 USA
302-659-5083 (phone) info@libertyparks.com
Swings
Product line: Freestanding Age group: 5-12
PlayArea_3
Product line: Freestanding Age group: 5-12
PlayArea_4
Product line: TotsChoice
2/13/2024
QUOTE: R0094248012
Page 1 of 4
Bench
RiskSign_Included
Additional Items
Grand Total: $96,108.87
Huge thank you to Dover Motor Speedway for helping us kick-off this project with a $15,000 donation!
“It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.”
- Mister Rogers
Be part of our movement!
Help us raise $81,000 by May 2024.
Your donation goes beyond building a playground—you are building resilience in young minds and bodies, promoting healing from unimaginable trauma, and providing a chance for youth to reach their full potential. We appreciate your support during Delaware’s Do More 24 day of giving, March 7 - March 8.
Email Heather Holiday Director of Development, for more information on making your gift and opportunities to put your name on this project.
hholiday@abcfoc.org
