Resources

Children who are cared for in an out of home placement are in need of support and stability. This classic text offers information and advice for professionals and carers on how to help these children, who will often have attachment difficulties.

A Safe Place for Caleb is a comprehensive and richly illustrated resource for individuals of all ages who are dealing with attachment problems. Parents, professionals, and lay people will find this book helpful in understanding and addressing attachment disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. The first half of the book is an interactive story that follows the experiences of Caleb, a young boy who relates his difficulties and frustrations in forming and sustaining healthy relationships. He learns strategies for coping with attachment issues during his journey to the Safe Tree House, where he is introduced to the four "attachment healing keys". These act as therapeutic tools to unlock difficulties with attachment, and are presented using text and illustrations that are easily accessible for readers of all ages, even for young children. The second half of the book presents a summary of current scientific thought on attachment styles and disorders, and provides a wide array of assessment tools, photocopiable material and healing techniques to address attachment difficulties. Lists of helpful organizations and relevant reading materials are also presented. Based on established psychological principles, the book is a unique and imaginative guide for professionals, parents, caregivers, and people of all ages who are dealing with attachment issues.

, ADHD 2.0 by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell and Dr. John J. Ratey is a modern follow-up to their classic bestseller Driven to Distraction. It blends updated neurological science with practical advice to help children and adults manage distraction, minimize pitfalls, and leverage the creative, entrepreneurial strengths of the ADHD mind.

As an expert in ADHD and child development, Patricia Bloom the author of "ADHD: Raising an Explosive Child" has dedicated her career to helping parents like you find practical solutions for their daily challenges. With decades of experience and a compassionate approach, she has helped countless families improve their lives and create a more harmonious and supportive environment for their children.

The startling and ultimately uplifting narrative of one woman's thirteen-year experience as a foster parent. For more than a decade, Kathy Harrison has sheltered a shifting cast of troubled youngsters-the offspring of prostitutes and addicts; the sons and daughters of abusers; and teenage parents who aren't equipped for parenthood. All this, in addition to raising her three biological sons and two adopted daughters. What would motivate someone to give herself over to constant, largely uncompensated chaos? For Harrison, the answer is easy. Another Place at the Table is the story of life at our social services' front lines, centered on three children who, when they come together in Harrison's home, nearly destroy it. It is the frank first-person story of a woman whose compassionate best intentions for a child are sometimes all that stand between violence and redemption.

Anxiety Rx by Dr. Russell Kennedy is a self-help book that argues anxiety begins as a physical alarm in the body—storing trauma and stress—rather than just a malfunction of the mind. It offers body-based somatic tools to help readers disconnect physical alarms from anxious thoughts.

Attaching in Adoption is a comprehensive guide for prospective and actual adoptive parents on how to understand and care for their adopted child and promote healthy attachment. This classic text provides practical parenting strategies designed to enhance children's happiness and emotional health. It explains what attachment is, how grief and trauma can affect children's emotional development, and how to improve attachment, respect, cooperation and trust. Parenting techniques are matched to children's emotional needs and stages, and checklists are included to help parents assess how their child is doing at each developmental stage. The book covers a wide range of issues including international adoption, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and learning disabilities, and combines sound theory and direct advice with case examples throughout. This book is a must read for anyone interested in adoption and for all adoptive families. It will also be a valuable resource for adoption professionals.

Attachment security and affect regulation have long been buzzwords in therapy circles, but many of these ideas—so integral to successful therapeutic work with kids and adolescents— have yet to be effectively translated to parenting practice itself. Moreover, as neuroscience reveals how the human brain is designed to work in good relationships, and how such relationships are central to healthy human development, the practical implications for the parent-child attachment relationship become even more apparent.Here, a leading attachment specialist with over 30 years of clinical experience brings the rich and comprehensive field of attachment theory and research from inside the therapy room to the outside, equipping therapists and caregivers with practical parenting skills and techniques rooted in proven therapeutic principles.A guide for all parents and a resource for all mental health clinicians and parent-educators who are searching for ways to effectively love, discipline, and communicate with children, this book presents the techniques and practices that are fundamental to optimal child development and family functioning—how to set limits, provide guidance, and manage the responsibilities and difficulties of daily life, while at the same time communicating safety, fun, joy, and love. Filled with valuable clinical vignettes and sample dialogues, Hughes shows how attachment-focused research can guide all those who care for children in their efforts to better raise them.

Heather T. Forbes and B. Bryan Post address some of the most pressing and challenging issues faced by parents of children with histories of disrupted attachments. The authors have the ability to strip away the fog surrounding these troubled relationships, exposing the reality of children's reactions and dysregulated responses to the past traumatic experiences that so often underlie their difficulty in making close, affectional bonds. This clarity illuminates their therapeutic intervention in a manner that allows parent and child to hold onto the strategy, as they are caught up in the whirlwind of challenging behavior during the painful process of change. The authors address in detail the child's trauma (often associated with the adoption process), and they also address the painful struggle of the parents when a challenging child exposes the parents' own vulnerabilities to memories that they may have suppressed of their own past experiences. The immense value of this book is the clarity and simplicity of the authors' working model; the price of this clarity is that the hard truth is exposed with such intensity that some may shy away from facing reality and not benefit from their undoubted insights. The psychotherapeutic intervention described by the authors involves clinicians tapping into their own empathic capacities to help children feel supported to such a degree that a direct connection can be forged between the reality of children's traumatic experiences and the parents and/or clinicians being able to tolerate their pain, and so regulate the child's distress down to a manageable level. The recognition that another person can truly understand and tolerate their pain can be a major contribution to the client's therapeutic outcome. This book is an absolute necessity for every parent working through attachment issues, and for every professional (therapist, caseworker, teacher, policy maker, etc.) working with children who exhibit severe acting-out behaviors.

An inside look at the power of empathy: Born for Love is an unprecedented exploration of how and why the brain learns to bond with others—and a stirring call to protect our children from new threats to their capacity to love From birth, when babies' fingers instinctively cling to those of adults, their bodies and brains seek an intimate connection, a bond made possible by empathy—the ability to love and to share the feelings of others. In this provocative book, renowned child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry and award-winning science journalist Maia Szalavitz interweave research and stories from Perry's practice with cutting-edge scientific studies and historical examples to explain how empathy develops, why it is essential for our development into healthy adults, and how it is threatened in the modern world.

An attachment specialist and a clinical psychologist with neurobiology expertise team up to explore the brain science behind parenting.

Building the Bonds of Attachment is the second edition of a critically and professionally acclaimed book for social workers, therapists, and parents who strive to assist children with reactive attachment disorder. This work is a composite case study of the developmental course of one child following years of abuse and neglect. Building the Bonds of Attachment focuses on both the specialized psychotherapy and parenting that is often necessary in facilitating a child's psychological development and attachment security. It develops a model for intervention by blending attachment theory and research, trauma theory, and the general principles of parenting, and child and family therapy. This book is a practical guide for the adult—whether professional or parent—who endeavors to help such children.

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy." So begins the tale of Ellen Foster, the brave and engaging heroine of Kay Gibbons's first novel, which won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Institute of Arts and Letters. Wise, funny, affectionate, and true, Ellen Foster is, as Walker Percy called it, "The real thing. Which is to say, a lovely, sometimes heart wrenching novel. . . . [Ellen Foster] is as much a part of the backwoods South as a Faulkner character—and a good deal more endearing."

Ruthie Mae Bolton was born January 6, 1961, in the Hungry Neck section of Charleston, South Carolina. At the time, her mother was thirteen; she has never known who her father was. Her mother was the wandering kind, so Ruthie Mae-nicknamed "Gal" by her stepgrandfather-was raised in her grandparents' home. One day Grandmama died as a result of a severe beating by her husband-it occured to no one to call this to the attention of the authorities-and Gal was left in the brutal hands of her granddaddy, who beat her unmercifully as well. Ruthie Mae began to steal things in school and she developed a stutter; she drank and smoked dope. But she stuck resolutely with her education and graduated from high school, which was likely her salvation, for today Ruthie Mae is happily married, with children and a fine job. At last she is at peace-with herself and even with the memory of her grandfather. It is nigh impossible to convey the astonishingly eloquent simplicity of Ruthie Mae's witnessing to her time. Here is an absolutely remarkable document, as touching as it is painful, as ageless as it is timely.

Maybe Days: A Book for Children in Foster Care by Jennifer Wilgocki and Marcia Kahn Wright (illustrated by Alissa Imre Geis) is a 32-page children's book published in December 2001 by Magination Press (the American Psychological Association's imprint). It helps young children in the foster care system understand their uncertain "maybe" situations, feelings, and the roles of adults around them

When children misbehave, our first impulse is often to scold, lecture or punish them. This book by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson presents an alternative whole-brain approach to gain your kids’ cooperation and nurture them to become good, happy and success people when they grow up. In this free No-Drama Discipline summary, you’ll learn how to discipline your child in a respectful and nurturing way, to deliver the immediate and long-term outcomes that you desire. These insights can be used by parents, caregivers, educators, coaches or therapists who’re responsible for children’s growth and well-being.

Toth's work is an important study of the foster care system in America and examines the plight of thousands of children whose parents cannot or will not care for them, revealing the neglect, abuse, and loss of love that affects their lives

Parenting from the Inside Out by child psychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel and early-childhood expert Mary Hartzell explores how a parent's own childhood and self-understanding shape their relationship with their children. Published by TarcherPerigee, the 336-page book blends brain science with attachment research to help adults raise resilient kids.

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory C. Keck and Regina M. Kupecky is a 304-page guide published by NavPress. It provides practical advice and true stories to help adoptive parents manage children with trauma, abuse, or attachment issues, typically priced around $13 to $18 in paperback or digital formats.

Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility, co-authored by psychiatrist Dr. Foster W. Cline and educator Jim Fay, is a popular guide that teaches adults how to raise responsible, self-confident children without anger, threats, nagging, or power struggles.

Published in 2016 by TarcherPerigee, Positive Parenting: An Essential Guide is a 208-page book by parenting blogger Rebecca Eanes. It moves past traditional behavior-management techniques to focus on emotional awareness, helping parents stop yelling, recognize personal triggers, and build heart-to-heart connections with children from infancy through adolescence.

"A valuable book for the busy parent. Karen Joslin knows how to use both love and power in parenting, and presents easily understood solutions to common problems." GLENN AUSTIN, M.D., F.A.A.P. Former President, American Academy of Pediatrics Parenting expert and mother Karen Renshaw Joslin provides concrete age-specific solutions to more than 140 child misbehaviors. With this reassuring guide, alphabetically organized for easy access, you can: look up the problem and immediately pinpoint the case, learn specfically what to do, according to your child's age, know the exact words to say with actual dialogue examples, and more.

The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White is a practical guide that adapts the famous love languages concept to professional settings. It helps managers and team members reduce staff burnout, improve retention, and build trust by showing authentic, individual-specific encouragement.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

by Dr. Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz is a powerful book on developmental psychology. It uses real-life case studies of severely traumatized children to explain how extreme stress and terror impact the growing brain. The book shows that healing is possible through empathy, simple nurturing, and relational interactions.

The Broken Cord is a 1989 bestselling nonfiction book by Michael Dorris. It tells the true, heartbreaking story of his single adoption of a Native American boy named Adam, who suffered severe brain damage from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award and brought national awareness to the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy.

Published in 2007 by McGraw-Hill, The Connected Child by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine is a leading guide for adoptive and foster parents. The book provides practical tools to help caregivers bond with children who have experienced trauma, abuse, or neglect.

Traditional parenting approaches often fall short when children have experienced trauma, loss, neglect, or disrupted attachment. In The Connected Parent, renowned child-development expert Dr. Karyn Purvis and adoptive mother Lisa Qualls provide practical tools and compassionate guidance to help parents understand their children's unique needs and respond with confidence, connection, and care.

This is a tale, not very long ago or far away, about a little girl named Bella and her 6 brothers and sisters. Their parents, already burdened by their own addictions, are unable to care for even the most basic needs of their own innocent children. It is soon uncovered that these children are living in a terrible state of misery and neglect. The parents are eventually arrested and the Social Worker Agency randomly pairs up the bewildered children and sends them off into foster care. Will these children ever find each other again? Will they ever recover from these terrible events? Read the tale and find out what happened to this unfortunate family. The tale reflects the joys and pitfalls of adopting or fostering a child with a history of early trauma. It is accompanied by a parenting guide that provides practical step-by-step help in assisting families to work through their child's negative behaviors to achieve more positive ones.

The Great Behavior Breakdown identifies 27 of the most problematic, serious, and challenging behaviors that parents face, broken them down, and provided step-by-step guidance and insight for transforming your family conflict immediately. This is a must-read book for any parent or professional working with children who have seemingly uncontrollable behavior. Common diagnoses for such children are Reactive Attachment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Depressive Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. This book, a follow-up to the groundbreaking audio program of the same title, is guaranteed to change the way you view these behaviors.

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson is a practical guide explaining neuroscience for parents. It shows how a child's brain matures and offers twelve strategies to turn daily meltdowns into chances for growth and emotional balance

Published in December 2006 by North Atlantic Books, Trauma Through a Child's Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing by Peter A. Levine and Maggie Kline is a 536-page guide. It details how parents, teachers, and therapists can use Somatic Experiencing to recognize, prevent, and heal trauma in children from infancy through adolescence

Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk is a 1996 memoir by Marc Parent. It details his intense experiences as an emergency child-welfare caseworker in New York City. The book exposes the heavy emotional toll, systemic flaws, and harsh realities of protecting abused and neglected children on the front lines.

Filled with powerful insights from children, parents, and experts in the field, plus practical strategies and case histories that will ring true for every adoptive family, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew is an invaluable guide to the complex emotions that take up residence within the heart of the adopted child--and within the adoptive home.

What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey and brain expert Dr. Bruce D. Perry changes how we view human behavior. The book shifts our mindset from asking "What is wrong with you?" to asking "What happened to you?"

Resource for the treatment of Head Lice for children.

10-year-old Eli finds himself at summer camp. Rated PG-13, Watch on Amazon Prime Video

A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster three children. Rated PG-13, Watch on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount +

Possible Selves is an a feature-length documentary that follows two brave teenagers in foster care through their tumultuous high school years and into college. It is the first major documentary to focus on the lived experience of current foster youth themselves.The film intimately shares Alex and Mia’s journeys as they strive to attain a goal that only 3% of adults who grow up in foster care reach: graduating from college. One reason that the stories of foster youth are so rarely told is that filming with foster youth requires permission from a judge. The Los Angeles County Children's Court granted this access through our partner First Star, a nonprofit that helps foster teens prepare for college.

A 10-year-old girl navigates her way through the foster care system. Not Rated, Watch on Amazon Prime Video

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (also simply known as Possum Trot) is a 2024 American drama film directed by Joshua Weigel, and co-written by Rebekah Weigel. Actress and activist Letitia Wright served as executive producer. The film was produced by Peacetree Productions and distributed by Angel Studios. This is a biographical film about Donna and Reverend Martin.

A movie on cyber predators, safety, and awareness Rated R, Watch on Freevee, Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Amazon Prime Video

This document provides information to potential resource parents on what is looks like to provide normalicy

Click on the link below to review some additional FAQs. Under the section for Supports to Move Forward, click on 'Is financial assistance available?'.

Foster the Family provides support for vulnerable children and the families welcoming them with intentional and consistent community and support. Use the link provided to find a support group meeting near you!

This is a blank template that is intended to provide the resource parent with guided questions to ask the worker who is placing a child with them.

a contact list provided based on the applicants region or hub

The Idaho Resource Parent Bill of Rights was created to inform Resource parents and department staff about the rights resource parents have while caring for children.

When you have experienced property damage or loss due to a foster care child this document will explain what actions should be taken to support you in repairing or placing the damage or loss.

Thank you for your ongoing support to Idaho’s foster children. We value you and appreciate the work you do. When crisis arise or if you need to find resources, please visit this page to find what you need. You will find a collaboration of resources to support you and your family’s journey when you need it most.

Connections for Kids is a fully licensed mental health agency serving children and families. We offer an array of comprehensive services with quality and compassion.

Deborah D. Gray is a clinical social worker specialising in attachment, grief and trauma. She is a leading figure in her field, and a sought-after presenter and trainer. She runs a private practice, Nurturing Attachments, in Kirkland, Washington, USA and has spent over 15,000 hours in the last 15 years counselling children who were adopted. Her private practice philosophy is one of empowering parents with information and techniques they can use to meet the needs of their children and develop close, satisfying relationships. She teaches in the Cascadia Resources/Northwest Adoption Resource and Portland State post-Graduate Programs in Adoption Counselling and the University of Washington's Post-Graduate Trauma Certificate program. In her personal life, Deborah D. Gray feels linked to adoption through the family in which she grew up and has also been a therapeutic foster. In 2015 Deborah was awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the international ATTACh conference for her contribution to the field of attachment.

SUPPORT THAT RESTORES HOPE Whether you’re raising a child, leading a ministry, or equipping a team, we’re here to provide the resources and support you need.

We amplify those with lived experience, assist adoptive, foster, and kinship parents, educate child welfare professionals, and champion the well-being of children and families.

The Washington State Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic & Prevention Network (FAS DPN) started out as a single FASD diagnostic clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1993. It was sponsored by the CDC as a FASD primary prevention study. The clinic expanded into a statewide network of interdisciplinary FASD diagnostic clinics led by the core clinical/research/training clinic at the Center on Human Development and Disability at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Susan J. (Astley) Hemingway, Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology/Pediatrics, is the Director of the FAS DPN. The network was established in 1995 through Washington State Senate Bill 5688 and RCW 71.24.605. Over the years it has received support from the CDC, March of Dimes, Chavez Memorial Fund, and WA State Department of Social and Health Services. In 2023 the WA State Legislature passed House Bill 1168 supporting statewide diagnosis and intervention efforts.

Welcome to FCAC - Home to the #1 Online Training Program related to working with at risk children

Publishing foster care, adoption and kinship care resources, expert opinions and practical advice for over 20 years.

Sponsored by the NC Division of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resource Program.

For more than two decades, the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) has worked to improve the lives of children impacted by trauma through research, education, and outreach. As the home of Trust‑Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), we equip students, caregivers, professionals, and partners around the world to bring hope and healing to children in families and systems of care. What began in 2005 as a therapeutic summer camp experience has grown into a globally recognized, evidence-supported model used in homes, schools, agencies, healthcare, and communities across the U.S. and around the world.

It is important for adoptive and foster parents to examine their motivations, not only when they begin the adoption or foster care journey but also along the way. Watch as Michael Monroe encourages parents to consider why they are doing what they are doing so they can more effectively meet their child’s needs.

Supporting Foster, Kinship & Adoptive Families Through Education, Training, Advocacy & Community

Child-friendly videos, activities, and caregiver resources designed to help children understand foster care, transitions, and feelings of separation in a developmentally appropriate way.

Resources that help children and caregivers talk about addiction, emotions, and safety using simple language, familiar characters, and trauma-sensitive guidance.

Serving Families Since 2002 Equipping Parents to Help Their Children Thrive Explore certified online courses designed to support and guide parents, adoptive parents and professionals through every stage of their journey.

As adoptive and foster parents encounter challenges and struggles, many of them discover that much of their frustration and disappointment is rooted in their own unrealistic expectations. Watch as Michael Monroe provides insight into the importance of realistic expectations and how by holding their expectations loosely, parents can actually begin to make progress toward greater healing and connection.

Would you love to have a simple parenting tool you can start implementing right away that will help you build trust with your kids? There is one simple word that can make a huge difference… “YES!” An easy way to begin giving our kids more yes’s is to make a “Yes” jar. Once you fill your jar, tell your kids about it and be willing to say yes anytime they ask. Have fun saying yes and building trust in a new way!

Watch as Dr. Karyn Purvis talks about the use of ‘time-in’ instead of ‘time-out’ to effectively correct and train our children. As she explains, this important strategy promotes healthy development and secure connection, while at the same time dealing effectively with misbehavior.