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BOOKS FOR ADULTS

There are many great books available on fostering and other related topics. Here are just a few you might consider reading.

ADVICE, TOOLS, AND HANDBOOKS

Wounded Children, Healing Homes: How Traumatized Children Impact Adoptive and Foster Families by Jayne Schooler, Betsy Keefer Smalley and Timothy Callahan
Wounded Children, Healing Homes provides help for adoptive and foster parents of children who have been emotionally wounded by abandonment, rejection, and other traumatic events. Often parents enter into an adoptive or foster experience with high expectations, lots of love to give, and expecting love in return. But often the case is that traumatized children need special handling and parents need education on how to handle their challenges. This book offers solutions and encouragement for parents as they lead their new child toward healing and wholeness.

The Foster Parenting Manual: A Practical Guide to Creating a Loving, Safe and Stable Home by John DeGarmo
The Foster Parenting Manual is a comprehensive guide offering proven, friendly advice for novice and experienced parents alike. DeGarmo 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.

Love and Logic Magic When Kids Leave You Speechless by Jim Fay and Charles Fay
For years, parents have asked Jim Fay and Dr. Charles Fay for specific words they can use when kids leave them speechless. The book is finally here! Twenty-three chapters include parent-child dialogues and plenty of information about how to handle the most frustrating things kids say.

The Middle Mom by Christie Erwin
Every foster parent knows how hard, yet rewarding, it can be to care for a child with a difficult past and an uncertain future. Christie Erwin has been a mom, in the middle, for countless children over nearly two decades. In this poignant and insightful book, she honestly shares the reality of making yourself vulnerable to the pain and indescribable delight of giving your heart away to a child. If you have ever considered foster parenting and just aren’t sure you have what it takes, let Christie’s inspiring, faith-filled story assure you that there is One that can and will equip you with all you need.

Practical Tools for Foster Parents by Lana Temple-Plotz
More than half a million children today live in out-of-home care, and many have special problems. The need for well-trained, loving foster parents has never been greater. With this book, Girls and Boys Town offers these committed people the professional tools they need to not only care for foster children but to actually help them get better.

The Connected Child by Karyn B. Purvis, Ph.D., David R. Cross, Ph.D., and Wendy Lyons Sunshine
Written by two research psychologists specializing in adoption and attachment, The Connected Child will help you:

  • Build bonds of affection and trust with your adopted child
  • Effectively deal with any learning or behavioral disorders
  • Discipline your child with love without making him or her feel threatened

For Lasting Relationships by Jim Fay and Dr. David B. Hawkins
The Love and Logic approach is the foundation for this book. This approach has helped millions of people raise wonderful, responsible children. Now we’re taking all that wisdom, which works so well with kids, and applying it to adult relationships. * Do you feel like there has to be a better way to interact, instead of arguing, with co-workers, significant others and any other adult in your life? * Do you ever struggle in your relationships with friends, family, co-workers, or significant others? * Do you feel like relating just shouldn’t be this hard? This book gives you a powerful toolbox filled with tried and true techniques that have proven useful to millions of people. It is guaranteed to make a profound difference in the way you communicate with others in your life!

Memoirs

Thin Places, a Memoir by Mary E. DeMuth
In this moving spiritual memoir—Thin Places—Mary DeMuth traces the winding path of thin places in her life, places where she experienced longing and healing more intensely than before. From surviving abuse as a latchkey kid to discovering a heavenly Father who never leaves, Mary’s story invites you to a deeper understanding of your own story. She calls you to discover new ways to look for God in the past so that you might experience him more profoundly in the present.

Three Little Words, a Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
An inspiring true story of the tumultuous nine years Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent in the foster care system, and how she triumphed over painful memories and real-life horrors to ultimately find her own voice.

Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison
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.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

These books provide another channel of communicating to children involved in the foster care process. The books listed below can help young children gain a better understanding of foster care. These books are all available for purchase online.

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
Specifically written to address children’s fear of being apart from the ones they love, The Invisible String delivers a particularly compelling message in today’s uncertain times that though we may be separated from the ones we care for, whether through anger, or distance or even death, love is the unending connection that binds us all, and, by extension, ultimately binds every person on the planet to everyone else.

Maybe Days, a Book for Children in Foster Care by Jennifer Wilgocki and Marcia Kahn Wright
For many children in foster care, the answer to many questions is often “maybe”. Maybe Days is a straightforward look at the issues of foster care, the questions that children ask, and the feelings that they confront. A primer for children going into foster care, the book also explains in children’s terms the responsibilities of everyone involved – parents, social workers, lawyers and judges. As for the children themselves, their job is to be a kid – and there’s no maybe about that.

Murphy’s Three Homes, a Story for Children in Foster Care by Jan Levinson Gilman
Murphy, a Tibetan Terrier puppy, is told he is a ‘good luck dog’ – he is cheerful, happy, and loves to play and wag his tail. However, after going through two different homes and an animal shelter, Murphy starts to feel like a ‘bad luck dog’ who nobody wants. Murphy’s Three Homes follows this adorable pup through his placement in three new homes, as well as through his anxiety, self-doubt, and hope for a new, loving family. Finally, Murphy is placed in a caring foster home where he feels comfortable and valued.

Zachary’s New Home, a Story for Foster and Adopted Children by Geraldine M. Blomquist, M.S.W. and Paul B Blomquist
This story for adopted and foster children describes the adventures of Zachary the kitten, who is taken from his mother’s house when she is unable to take care of him. It follows Zachary as he goes into foster care, his adoption by a family of geese and his feelings of shame, anger and hurt.

Finding the Right Spot, When Kids Can’t Live With Their Parents by Janice Levy
Finding the Right Spot is a story for all kids who can’t live with their parents, regardless of the circumstances. It’s a story about resilience and loyalty, hope and disappointment, love, sadness, and anger, too. It’s about whether life is fair, and wondering what will happen tomorrow, and talking about all of it. And finally, it’s about what makes the spot you’re in feel right.

The Star, a Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care by Cynthia Miller Lovell (Plus Workbook)
The Star follows a fictional young girl, Kit, who is taken from her mother to the safety, and different world, of a foster home. On Kit’s first night in foster care, she becomes friends with a star outside her bedroom window. The star tells Kit about other foster children it has seen. Through the story, the star is a source of comfort for Kit as she experiences many emotions and adjusts to all the new things in her foster home.

LIFE BOOK TOOLS

Helping children retain their histories while they are in foster care is something we strongly encourage. The following links are tools that are available to help you create a Life Book.

ONLINE TRAINING

CONTINUING EDUCATION:

COURSES:
  • Foster Care & Adoptive Community Training – Over 100 online courses, typically 3-4 credit hours per course, costing $5 to $10.
  • Foster Parent College – Provides innovative, research-based, interactive online courses for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents. Most courses are $10 for 2 hours of training.
  • FosterParentTraining.com – An annual fee of $15 per person allows you to take an unlimited number of courses.
  • FosterClub – Free foster parent training courses, but there are only about 15 courses currently posted. Certificates are issued after taking a test.
  • ProSolutions Training – There are 75 courses in the foster parent catalog for a variety of hours and costs.

WEBINARS:

 

EQUIP 2018:

Love & Logic

TBRI: Trust-Based Relational Intervention

*Check with your licensing agency for exact requirements of online training resources.

CD TALKS

Helicopters, Drill Sergeants and Consultants: Parenting Styles and the Messages They Send
What kind of a parent are you– a hovering helicopter, demanding drill sergeant or a caring consultant? Each parenting style sends a powerful message to your child about what he or she is or is not, capable of. Parenting expert and humorous storyteller, Jim Fay, helps you identify your style, then shares practical stress-free techniques for becoming a consultant parent. Jim guarantees you’ll enjoy being a parent again!

Listen: Jim Fay — Introduction (:39)
Listen: Jim Fay — The Three Parenting Styles (8:59)
Listen: Jim Fay — No Owners Manual (6:33)
Listen: Jim Fay — The Rules (12:19)
Listen: Jim Fay — Burger Chef (11:06)
Listen: Jim Fay — Won’t Work On A 16 Year Old (5:52)
Listen: Jim Fay — Bedtime (7:23)
Listen: Jim Fay — Balance Consequences (9:26)
Listen: Jim Fay — Brian (7:38)
Listen: Jim Fay — Fighting and Chores (9:21)

Support Organizations

There are many great support organizations for foster families in and around the Atlanta area. Below are links to a few that we have experience with that provide supplies, events, and training opportunities.

TUTORING:

  • Inspiring Together Inspiring Together offers one-on-one tutoring and music lessons to foster youth. It’s a 10 week program and will be offered via 40 minute zoom sessions. It’s all free! You can get more information and sign up here https://inspiringtogether.org/tutoring-sign-up/. For the guitar lessons, Metro Music Makers will provide a free guitar for temporary use during the extent of the program.


FULTON COUNTY:

  • Foster Care Support Foundation
    Foster Care Support Foundation has clothing, supplies, toys, and more are available through this NPM Intersect Partner. Children must be past their 72-hour hearing before your appointment can occur, but you can request an appointment as soon as you take placement.
  • Spruill Center For the Arts
    Spruill Center For the Arts offers scholarships for weekly art classes, school brea camps and summer camps for children and teens in foster care ages 5-18
  • Atlanta Angels
    Atlanta Angels wraps community around children, youth, and families experiencing foster care. Dare to Dream volunteers have the opportunity to mentor a youth in care. Monthly service opportunities supporting foster families are available through their Love Box program. Know a foster family or teen that could use support? you can refer a teen here or family here. 
  • Perimeter Ballet
    Perimeter Ballet offers weekly ballet classes are being offered at Perimeter Church for foster children ages 4-18. Email RebeccaLaneBrown@gmail.com for more information on registration.
  • Judy Hall Yoga
    Parent and Child yoga lessons are being offered for foster children and their foster parents. Contact Judy Hall at threehalls@comcast.net or call 678.575.9621 for more information.
  • Arbor Cove Therapy
    Arbor Cove Therapy provide adults, adolescents and children attachment-based and trauma-informed care helping individuals and families chart a course of restoration and connection. They specialize in working with individuals who are adopted, along with birth and adoptive families, as they navigate common dynamics of adoption as well as challenges related to complex developmental trauma. 

GWINNETT COUNTY:

  • Because One Matters
    (BOMs) is committed to their mission of creating lasting memories for foster children in Georgia. They provide support to foster children by providing a duffle bag filled with essential items for their first couple of days in foster care. They celebrate foster kids birthday’s by hosting birthday parties with the gifts and entertainment and they also provide a full course meal and holiday decorations & gifts to youths aging out of foster care during Thanksgiving and Christmas. To request a duffle bag, foster parents can contact them via email or text at info@becauseonematters.org or 678-752-1049. Bags are delivered directly to foster parents and are only available to children entering foster care for the first time. You can learn more about them on their website at www.becauseonematters.org.
  • Jennifer Mejias-Marriage and Family Therapist
    Jennifer is located in Lawrenceville at Bright Path and specializes in trauma, sexual abuse and adoption. She is trained in Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Attachment Regulation and Competency (ARC). She is in the process of being credited to accept Amerigroup. Contact Jennifer Mejias at jennifermejias@brightpathcc.com or at 404-913-6481. 


FORSYTH COUNTY:

  • LinderKids and CrossFit Dynamo These two organizations have partnered together to bring strength, community and hope to foster teens in the Forsyth County area. Foster teens between the ages of 12 and 18 (must be in middle or high school) are invited to experience fitness through CrossFit in a community of their peers, with mentors and role models. The first month is at no cost and if you and your child find this amazing program to be a good fit, then your child can receive a LinderKids scholarship. Teens accepted into the LinderKids program will participate in CrossFit Dynamo’s Teen program at no cost to the child or the host family. In return for the scholarship, LinderKids are expected to maintain their grades and give back through community service. Contact karl@thefunderburgs.com for more info or call 678-642-8046 to register.
  • Thrive Together Thrive Together has been providing supportive services to struggling families, abused and neglected children as well as foster/adoptive families since 2009. Thrive Together’s are committed to protecting children, rebuilding families, and empowering caregivers. Their highest priority is to protect children and they offer numerous programs and services that offer support and healing, with the hope that we can break the generational cycle of abuse and neglect. Find out more by visiting their website here. 
  • Martha’s Court “Introduction to Tennis”                                                                                                                                  Lessons are being offered for foster children ages 5 – 18 and the first month (1x/wk) will be at no charge. This offer is on a first come first serve basis. Tennis lessons will be offered in Alpharetta, Cumming, Johns Creek, Suwanee, and Sugar Hill. Signing up as a group is preferable (2 – 6 kids). For more info, contact Martha Gjurich at 770.866.4020 or email marthagjurich@yahoo.com. Feel free to check out Martha’s Court on Facebook.
  • Helping Healing Hearts This class is held at New Leaf Counseling and Recovery in Cumming, Georgia and lasts for 10 weeks. Topics include victim’s rights, process of disclosure, problem solving, stress reduction, grieving, and more. Class meets on Mondays at 5:00 p.m. and costs $25 per person or $40 per couple. Call 678-648-6021 for the next available group.
  • Fostering Hope Support Group                                                                                                                                                Fostering Hope Support Group is for foster and adoptive families in the Forsyth County area and will be held the first Thursday of every month at The Vine Church in Cumming, Georgia. For more information, contact Jessica Torres (678.205.7016) or Janet Turnure (425.281.9082)


CHEROKEE COUNTY:

  • The Children’s Haven Located in Canton, The Children’s Haven provides resources to foster parents and children including trainings, clothing, infant and toddler items, and grief support. For more information, email Deidre Holland at deidre@cherokeechildrenshaven.org.
  • THE HUDDLE                                                                                                                                                                                          A gathering of foster and adoptive dads. WeFoster at First Baptist Church of Woodstock would love to invite any and all foster and adoptive dads to THE HUDDLE which meets every other month. THE HUDDLE includes a steak dinner, games, Dad discussion groups, and typically 2 hours of CE credit. For more information please email Wefoster@fbcw.net.

 STATEWIDE:

  • AMPED Kids Foundation AMPED Kids Foundation’s mission is to positively impact the lives of foster children by providing access to free private music instruction and other music programs throughout Georgia. Check out their website for more information. 

YOUNG ADULTS:

  • EMBARK Georgia EMBARK Georgia is a statewide network of support for youth who have experienced foster care and/or homelessness and are enrolled or interested in attending any postsecondary educational institution in Georgia.
  • Connections Homes Connections Homes connects families as walking partners to young adults (ages 18-24) who have experienced homelessness or foster care.
Dare to be Xtreme Dare to be Xtreme is a periodic Saturday environment sponsored by KidS3 designed to equip teens (ages 14-18) in foster care with the tools needed for success. Sessions include self-care/daily living, team-building, careers/education, work/study life, and finances.

Talks

March 2019- Tammy Reed shared the RPPS changes and did a Q&A with Lesli Reece (starts at 37 minutes and 42 seconds).
Listen: RPPS Changes

December 2018– Beau Johnson shared his heart from a foster dad perspective. 
Listen: Beau Johnson — Fostering Together 2018

October 2018- Lila Bradley spoke on foster care law and the judicial process. 
Listen: Lila Bradley — Fostering Together 2018
Read: Additional Q&A

December 2017- Andy and Sandra joined us again and shared 7 things they have learned from fostering.
Listen: Andy and Sandra — Fostering Together 2017

December 2014- Andy and Sandra shared their hearts at the Annual Christmas Brunch. What they said was timeless and worth listening to again and again.
Listen: Andy and Sandra — Fostering Together 2014

Racial Reconciliation and Awareness Resources

Below is a list of resources that was recommended by other foster and adoptive parents. 

BOOKS FOR ADULTS


BOOKS FOR CHILDREN


BOOKS FOR TEENS


OTHER RESOURCES

Birds on a Wire is a ministry to encourage and equip moms and they have put together an extensive list of resources for moms.

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