This book is about my life of being a mom and adoptive and foster parent to my sixteen children. I go through all the different emotions that a foster or adoptive parent may experience. I hope to better prepare them and, maybe, inform them enough that they can make wise decisions for their family. I also share some of my stories over the twenty-two years. My sharing may save a child in having a better-prepared foster parent or save a parent from becoming a foster parent. There is a lot of joy in foster parenting, but you are taking on a large responsibility. The more prepared you can be, the better.
This book covers common open adoption situations and how real families have navigated typical issues successfully. Like all useful parenting books, it provides parents with the tools to come to answers on their own, and answers questions that might not yet have come up.
Raising Other People's Children helps you navigate the complicated world of foster and step-parenting with better awareness and greater empathy, providing real-life solutions for forging strong relationships in extraordinary circumstances. Drawing on Debbie Ausburn’s decades of experience with every facet of the foster care system, Raising Other People's Children provides expert guidance viewed through the lens of real human interactions. The responsibility and complexity involved in raising someone else’s child can seem overwhelming. Regardless of whether you’re a stepparent, foster parent or adoptive parent, it is on you to take on the challenge of caring for them, helping them to move forward while also meeting their unique emotional needs.
More people than ever are loving other people's children--in stepfamilies, extended families, adoptive families, and other situations that have more to do with love than biology. If you are loving someone else's child, you'll face challenges-- and this book will help you meet them. In Loving Someone Else's Child, Angela Hunt talks respectfully, affectionately, and expertly to parents like me caught in an imperfect, sometimes impossible, family. She is a family expert with courage and a big heart.Dave Kopp, former editor Christian Parenting Today Newly revised and updated.
This book is about my life of being a mom and adoptive and foster parent to my sixteen children. I go through all the different emotions that a foster or adoptive parent may experience. I hope to better prepare them and, maybe, inform them enough that they can make wise decisions for their family. I also share some of my stories over the twenty-two years. My sharing may save a child in having a better-prepared foster parent or save a parent from becoming a foster parent. There is a lot of joy in foster parenting, but you are taking on a large responsibility. The more prepared you can be, the better.
First you marry a man who does not want children. He cheats and you divorce him. Then you marry the love of your life and find out he does not want to have children with you either. The three he has are more than enough. Although you always wanted to be a mother, you decide he is worth the sacrifice, expecting to have a long happy life together. But that's not what happens. This is the story of how a woman becomes childless by marriage and how it affects every aspect of her life. This is the book of my heart, the one I had to write. Ever since I realized I was not going to have children, I have felt recurring grief and an emptiness in my heart. I am different from most women, but I have found that I am not alone. There are many of us childless women, and I think it's important to share our stories about what it's like when you don't have children in a world where most girls grow up to become mothers. I hope this book offers comfort to those who are childless and understanding to those who are not. If it makes you smile here and there, even better.
It’s time to say NO to trying to fit square-peg kids into rounds holes, and YES to raising them from a place of acceptance and joy. Today millions of kids are stuck in a world that doesn’t embrace who they really are. They are the one in five “differently wired” children with ADHD, dyslexia, giftedness, autism, anxiety, or other neurodifferences, and their challenges are many. And for the parents who love them, the challenges are just as numerous, as they struggle to find the right school, the right support, the right path. But now there’s hope. Differently Wired is a revolutionary book—weaving together personal stories and a tool kit of expert advice from author Deborah Reber, it’s a how-to, a manifesto, and a reassuring companion for parents who can so often feel that they have no place to turn. At the heart of Differently Wired are 18 paradigm-shifting ideas—what the author calls “tilts,” which include how to accept and lean in to your role as a parent (#2: Get Out of Isolation and Connect). Deal with the challenges of parenting a differently wired child (#5: Parent from a Place of Possibility Instead of Fear). Support yourself (#11: Let Go of Your Impossible Expectations for Who You “Should” Be as a Parent). And seek community (#18: If It Doesn’t Exist, Create It). Taken together, it’s a lifesaving program to shift our thinking and actions in a way that not only improves the family dynamic, but also allows children to fully realize their best selves. “In this generous and urgent book, Deborah Reber lets the light in. She helps parents see that they’re not alone, and even better, delivers a positive action plan that will change lives.”—Seth Godin, author of Linchpin “Differently Wired will help parents of children who think differently to accept their child for who they are and facilitate their successful development.”—Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures and The Autistic Brain
Nautilus Gold Award Winner: Parenting & Family A practical guide to understanding teens from bestselling author and global youth advocate Josh Shipp. In 2015, Harvard researchers found that every child who does well in the face of adversity has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. But Josh Shipp didn’t need Harvard to know that. Once an at-risk foster kid, he was headed straight for trouble until he met the man who changed his life: Rodney, the foster parent who refused to quit on Shipp and got him to believe in himself. Now, in The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans, Shipp shows all of us how to be that caring adult in a teenager’s life. Stressing the need for compassion, trust, and encouragement, he breaks down the phases of a teenage human from sixth to twelfth grade, examining the changes, goals, and mentality of teenagers at each stage. Shipp offers revelatory stories that take us inside the teen brain, and shares wisdom from top professionals and the most expert grown-ups. He also includes practice scripts that address tough issues, including: FORGIVENESS: What do I do when a teen has been really hurt by someone and it’s not their fault? COMMUNICATION: How do I get a teen to talk to me? They just grunt. TRUST: My teen blew it. My trust is gone. Where do we go from here? BULLYING: Help! A teen (or their friend) is being harassed. DIFFICULT AND AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS: Drugs. Death. Sex. Oh my. Written in Shipp’s playfully authoritative, no-nonsense voice, The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans tells his story and unpacks practical strategies that can make a difference. Ultimately, it's not about shortcuts or magic words—as Shipp reminds us, it’s about investing in kids and giving them the love, time, and support they need to thrive. And that means every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.
Foster parents are committed to creating safe, caring, and inspiring environments that promote individual growth and successes. Potential foster parents should possess a desire to experience the world through the lens of a foster child and possess gifts and talents they would like to share with them. More importantly to them than your education or experience; is your view of the world, personality, work ethic, and eagerness to embrace a foster child.
