“Kids are important… They need safe places to live, and safe places to play.” For some kids, this means living with foster parents. In simple words and full-color illustrations, this book explains why some kids move to foster homes, what foster parents do, and ways kids might feel during foster care. Children often believe that they are in foster care because they are “bad.” This book makes it clear that the troubles in their lives are not their fault; the message throughout is one of hope and support. Includes resources and information for parents, foster parents, social workers, counselors, and teachers.
This book is the first to provide strategies for effective advocacy and placement within the foster care and kinship care systems. It also takes a rare look at the dynamics of the foster and kinship relationship, not just among children and the agency workers and service providers who intervene on their behalf, but also between children and those who take in and care for them as permanency develops. Drawing on their experience interacting with and writing about the institution of foster care, Mitchell Rosenwald and Beth N. Riley have composed a unique text that helps practitioners, foster parents, and relative caregivers realize successful transitions for youth, especially considering the traumas these children may suffer both before and after placement. Advocating for a child's best interests must begin early and remain consistent throughout assignment and adjustment. For practitioners, Rosenwald and Riley emphasize the best techniques for assessing a family's capabilities and for guiding families through the challenges of foster care. Part one details the steps potential foster parents and kinship caregivers must take, with the assistance of practitioners, to prepare themselves for placement. Part two describes tactics for successful advocacy within the court system, social service agencies, schools, and the medical and mental health establishments. Part three describes how to lobby for change at the agency and legislative levels, as well as within a given community. The authors illustrate recommendations through real-life scenarios and devote an entire chapter to brokering positive partnerships among practitioners, families, and other teams working to protect and transition children.
Here's help for all adults who want to talk to young children about personal safety. Written by an expert in child safety, this full-color picture book teaches kids (and helps adults reinforce) seven important rules to personal safety in a nonthreatening way. It covers topics like safe versus harmful secrets, safe versus harmful touches, and the importance of having a community of trusted adults to turn to for help. Emphasizing the "check-in" rule and teaching kids to trust their gut instincts, this book gives children the knowledge and confidence they need to make smart choices about their personal safety every day.
All families change over time. Sometimes a baby is born, or a grown-up gets married. And sometimes a child gets a new foster parent or a new adopted mom or dad. Children need to know that when this happens, it’s not their fault. They need to understand that they can remember and value their birth family and love their new family, too. Straightforward words and full-color illustrations offer hope and support for children facing or experiencing change. Includes resources and information for birth parents, foster parents, social workers, counselors, and teachers.
Includes treatment issues not covered elsewhere This one-of-a-kind resource for mental health professionals in multiple settings is a comprehensive guide to treatment issues unique to children and families who have a relationship with the foster care system. With a focus on understanding how to negotiate the child welfare system, the book identifies and addresses mental health and behavioral issues specific to this population and provides proven, effective treatment interventions. It brings together in one place the myriad of current resources available to help such children and families, and addresses situations that span removal from the home to kin or foster care, to reunification, adoption, or other permanent family connections. Broad in scope and depth, the text includes treatment issues not discussed elsewhere, such as how to cope with acting out in the foster home, how to draft a behavior modification plan, and how to maneuver through the court process. It delivers evidence-based guidelines for engaging and collaborating with multiple parties including other professionals, addressing crises, and assisting with transitions. The book covers assessment from the perspectives of the client, caseworker, and therapist, and discusses the use of medications, complications, and barriers to effective treatment. Strategies are also directed at such specific issues as sexual abuse, physical abuse, substance abuse, neglect, trauma, and attachment. Of special interest is a focus on the worldview of the parties involved in the child welfare system, including the child, the family, the birth parent, and the foster parent. Additionally, the text provides behavior modification plans that work and social skills training. Chapters weave case studies, ethical issues, multicultural concerns, and current research into a highly accessible guide. Key Features: Provides core information about the child welfare system for mental health professionals who work with this population Includes treatments that really work Illustrates, through case studies, how to combat common issues for the child welfare population and their families Describes strategies for engagement, collaboration, addressing crises, and assisting with transitions Addresses specific treatment issues not covered elsewhere
Selected as a "Favorite Book for Parents in 2019" by Greater Good. Young children can surprise us with tough questions. Tominey’s essential guide teaches us how to answer them and foster compassion along the way. If you had to choose one word to describe the world you want children to grow up in, what would it be? Safe? Understanding? Resilient? Compassionate? As parents and caregivers of young children, we know what we want for our children, but not always how to get there. Many children today are stressed by academic demands, anxious about relationships at school, confused by messages they hear in the media, and overwhelmed by challenges at home. Young children look to the adults in their lives for everything. Sometimes we’re prepared... sometimes we’re not. In this book, Shauna Tominey guides parents and caregivers through how to have conversations with young children about a range of topics-from what makes us who we are (e.g., race, gender) to tackling challenges (e.g., peer pressure, divorce, stress) to showing compassion (e.g., making friends, recognizing privilege, being a helper). Talking through these topics in an age-appropriate manner—rather than telling children they are too young to understand—helps children recognize how they feel and how they fit in with the world around them. This book provides sample conversations, discussion prompts, storybook recommendations, and family activities. Dr. Tominey's research-based strategies and practical advice creates dialogues that teach self-esteem, resilience, and empathy: the building blocks for a more compassionate world.
Many clinicians recognize that denying or ignoring grief issues in children leaves them feeling alone and that acknowledging loss is crucial part of a child’s healthy development. Really dealing with loss in productive ways, however, is sometimes easier said than done. For decades, Life and Loss has been the book clinicians have relied on for a full and nuanced presentation of the many issues with which grieving children grapple as well as an honest exploration of the interrelationship between unresolved grief, educational success, and responsible citizenry. The third edition of Life and Loss brings this exploration firmly into the twenty-first century and makes a convincing case that children’s grief is no longer restricted only to loss-identified children. Children’s grief is now endemic; it is global. Life and Loss is not just the book clinicians need to understand grief in the twenty-first century—it’s the book they need to work with it in constructive ways.
Feasting on the Word Guide to Children's Sermons equips church leaders and children's ministry volunteers to deliver children's sermons that are free of gimmicks and simplistic conclusions, that welcome children into the family of faith, and that give a foundation in God's good news for all people. This volume will address the common questions pastors have about the children's sermon, steps on avoiding common pitfalls, suggestions on how to use the children's time in a church following the lectionary, and sample Bible stories for use in the children's time.
Loss is a part of every life, and grief related to loss is inescapable. It can result in distress that impacts work, learning, rehabilitation, spiritual beliefs, social relationships, health, mental health, and well-being. Helping professionals who encounter grief reactions in multiple settings are often not trained to identify and respond to the many complex grief-related problems of clients. Without the opportunity to learn how to assess and address grief, many may lack confidence in acknowledging loss and providing effective support. Although grieving is an extremely painful part of life, integration and adjustment are possible, and meaning can be made from loss. Readers will find many examples from caring and resilient students, interdisciplinary professionals, teachers, clients, and family members who have learned to make meaning from loss. The content of the third edition has been significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid addiction crisis, and increased awareness of racial trauma and injustice. The book provides a foundation for understanding, assessing, and responding effectively to grief and loss. The content is designed for students and professionals who find themselves working in proximity to loss, trauma, and grief in various capacities—educator, advocate, case manager, counselor, mental health and health care provider, and more. The work is vitally important, and the rewards for helping others cope with grief and loss are substantial.
