The Foster Parenting Manual

The Foster Parenting Manual is a comprehensive guide offering proven, friendly advice for novice and experienced parents alike. Distilling many years' experience into one book, John DeGarmo combines his own wisdom with that of fellow foster parents. He describes what to expect from the process, how to access help and how to ensure the best care for your child. He tackles thorny issues such as children's use of the Internet and social media, managing contact with birth parents and how to support your child at school. Most importantly, he provides advice designed to help your child feel safe, secure and loved. The Foster Parenting Manual offers seasoned, sympathetic advice that will be valued by foster parents and the professionals who support them.

Foster parenting is often seen as a calling and a mission of love. At the same time, foster parenting can be both very difficult and exhausting. When caring for children who have suffered abuse, neglect, and traumas, foster parents face their own set of unique challenges each day. The Foster Care Survival Guide is a must have for today’s foster parents. It is a guide to surviving the lifestyle of a foster parent filled with personal stories, practical tips and advice, and even humor and emotions, The Foster Care Survival Guide is an essential guide for both novice and experienced foster parents. Leading foster care expert Dr. John DeGarmo combines his own wisdom with that of fellow foster parents. Tackling issues such as helping children with disorders and anxieties, how to best manage the lifestyle of a foster parent, working with birth parents, getting the help you need, addressing your own marriage while caring for children in need, and balancing the needs of your biological children with your foster children, The Foster Care Survival Guide delivers experienced and sympathetic wisdom and advice that every foster parent, advocate, and professional needs today as they care for children in care.

Screening applicants for adoption or foster homes has life-altering consequences for the children involved, yet there are incredibly few programs available to train screeners. The educational system that certifies thousands of social workers each year does not understand the specialized training required to screen adoptive and foster parents; social work schools provide minimal interview training and what training they do provide focuses on therapeutic interview techniques rather than screening skills. There is a clear need for a book like Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening, one that can be incorporated into course requirements and used by working social workers and psychologists involved with adoption and foster parent screening. Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening, written by a former social worker, who has placed hundreds of children into adoptive and foster homes, and a clinical psychologist, meshes the best of psychology and social work experience into a definitive guide for screening adoption and foster home applicants. The book provides information on: evaluating aberrant behavior and unhealthy parenting attitudes interview techniques psychological testing. Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening is based on case histories, research data, and interpretive analysis. The book is written in an accessible style free of technical language, thus making it appropriate for college-level students and professionals who don't have time to sift through empirical data to obtain accessible information that they can adapt to their profession.

Foster care is a protective service to children and their families when families can no longer care for their children. There are many reasons and circumstances that make it difficult for biological families to meet the needs of their children, which include poverty, substance abuse, mental illness, homelessness, loss of a job or lack of support from extended family and community. In foster care, the children are provided with a safe, nurturing, loving family for a temporary period of time. GROWING UP IN PLACEMENT TAKES A TOLL, NOT JUST ON THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM, BUT ALSO THE PROFESSIONALS AND FOSTER PARENTS CHARGED WITH THEIR CARE. They make critical decisions that can affect a foster child's life forever, which is why this book plays a valuable role in foster care training. The purpose of this foster care book is to provide child welfare and social work professionals insightful feedback from former fosters who grew up in Foster family Kinship care Orphanage Group home Juvenile justice Adoptive and Mental health placements. These former foster kids have chosen to reflect on their childhood experiences through the lens of adult professionals, so that their unique knowledge might reach receptive minds looking to improve services to foster youth living in US foster care.

BECOME A FOSTER PARENT A mom, dad, house and dog do not make a home. Everyday, there are children who experience this sad fact when they are removed from their home due to neglect or abuse. Not every foster child has a foster family. In some regions, foster children must wait for long periods of time in shelter care. More than one-half million children in the United States rely on foster families to provide a safe and loving home. Many wonderful and caring families would like to open their homes to these children, but are clueless about how to get started. There are many misconceptions, myths and misunderstandings surrounding foster care. These concerns must be shattered and waiting children must be nurtured. This book details for prospective foster parents the requirements, qualifications and screening process. Step by step, foster parents are guided through the crucial decisions and directed to the vital information they will need to foster parent effectively. Foster Parent Handbook provides an indispensible guide for navigating through the foster care system. It is designed for use by prospective foster parents, those who are currently foster parents and professionals providing foster care services.

Helping Foster Children In School explores the challenges that foster children face in schools and offers positive and practical guidance tailored to help the parents, teachers and social workers supporting them. Children in care often perform poorly at school both in terms of their behavior and their academic performance, with many failing to complete their education. They will have often experienced trauma or neglect which can result in a number of developmental delays. By looking at why children in foster care do not perform as well as their counterparts, John DeGarmo, who has fostered more than 40 children, provides easy-to-use strategies to target the problems commonly faced. He emphasizes the importance of an open dialogue between teacher, parent and social worker, to ensure that everyone is working jointly to achieve the best outcome for the child. An invaluable resource for foster parents, social workers and educators alike, this book encourages a unified response to ensure foster children are given the best chance to succeed at school.

The essential guide to parenting adopted and foster kids--learn to create felt safety, heal attachment trauma, and navigate challenging behaviors and triggers Children who have been adopted and/or shuttled through the foster-care system experience trauma at a much higher rate than other kids, which can make it difficult for them to trust, relax, regulate their emotions, and connect with their new families. As a parent, learning how to heal attachment trauma, attune to your child's needs, identify triggers, and create felt safety is essential to providing the loving, supportive, and stable home they need to thrive. Written for parents of adopted and foster kids of all ages, this book offers resources for handling common concerns like sleep issues, food sensitivities, anger, fear, and reactivity. It also provides guidance on navigating transracial adoptions, working through parents' own hang-ups, and recognizing signs of developmental and psychological conditions. The book highlights practical strategies and provides real-life examples to address questions like: How do I help my adopted child adjust? Is this kind of behavior "normal"? How do I help my child live, heal, and thrive with PTSD?

There are great rewards that come along with being a foster parent, yet there are also great challenges that can leave you feeling depleted, alone, and discouraged. The many burdens of a foster parent's day--hurting children, struggling biological parents, and a broken system--are only compounded by the many burdens of a foster parent's heart--confusion, anxiety, heartache, anger, and fear. With the compassion and insight of a fellow foster parent, Jamie C. Finn helps you see your struggles through the lens of the gospel, bringing biblical truths to bear on your unique everyday realities. In these short, easy-to-read chapters, you'll find honest, personal stories and practical lessons that provide encouragement and direction from God's Word as you walk the journey of foster parenting.

Surviving in the foster care system is as equally challenging as parenting difficult children. This is vital information all foster parents need to remain available for children who need them.

This classic text is a comprehensive guide for prospective and actual adoptive parents on how to understand and care for their adopted child and promote healthy attachment. It explains what attachment is and provides parenting techniques matched to children's emotional needs and stages to enhance children's happiness and emotional health.