1. Welcoming Girls from All
Families
By Tinker Bell
2007

2. Family Mix Up
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Was your first guess of who you were
right?
Was it easy to figure out who you
were with only yes or no questions?
Were the questions others asked you
easy to answer in yes or no?
How does this relate to how we talk
to girls about their families?

3. Families Come in All Shapes
and Sizes
It is important to remember that not
all girls come from families
That live together
 That have one mom and one dad
 That are supportive environments
 That are biologically related
 That have siblings
 That have extended families


4. How Can You Be Supportive?
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Allow girls to use their own
language for their family members
Offer open ended questions about
families, instead of asking about
specific members
Encourage girls to tell their own
stories about their families

5. How Does a Space Become
Unsupportive?
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Through Overt and Intentional actions
and words obviously intended to harm
Through Overt and Unintentional
actions and words obviously harmful, but
not intended as such
Through Covert and Intentional actions
and words intended to be quietly harmful to
one girl, or group of girls
Through Covert and Unintentional
actions and words that many don’t
recognize as harmful and were not meant as
such

7. How does this happen in
units?
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Overt and Intentional – “I don’t want to
hang out with you because you’re a foster
kid. You don’t have a REAL family.”
Overt and Unintentional – “The real
parents of kids who are adopted just didn’t
want them.”
Covert and Intentional – “I already have
a buddy, and so does she.”
Covert and Unintentional – “But you
seem so normal, what do you mean don’t you
have a dad?”

8. How can we use
covert and overt
methods of action to
make girls feel
supported at camp?

9. What are other
issues that might
arise that could
benefit from covert
and overt
intervention?

10. What are other
issues that might
arise that could
benefit from covert
and overt
intervention?