Showing titles in Adoption & Fostering

Maggie’s story begins in suburban New Jersey, in a comfortable middle-class family that supports her decision to travel the world during a gap year before starting college. During her travels, the trajectory of her life alters when she has a surprise encounter with a Nepali girl breaking rocks in a quarry. Maggie decides to invest her life savings of 5,000 dollars to buy a piece of land and open a children’s home in Nepal.

In this unflinching, unforgettable memoir, Regina Louise tells the true story of overcoming neglect in the US foster-care system. Drawing on her experience as one of society’s abandoned children, she tells how she emerged from the cruel, unjust system, not only to survive, but to flourish. After years of jumping from one fleeting, often abusive home to the next, Louise meets a counselor named Jeanne Kerr. For the first time in her young life, Louise knows what it means to be seen, wanted, understood, and loved.

When Andrew Bridge was seven years old, he and his mother - a mentally unstable woman who loved her child more than she could care for him - slid deeper and deeper into poverty, until they were reduced to scavenging for food in trash bins. Welfare officials did little more than threaten to take Andrew away, until a social worker arrived with a police escort and did just that while his mother screamed on the sidewalk.

Nine-year-old Archie and his five-year-old sister, Bobbi, are taken into emergency police protective custody after an incident of domestic violence at their family home. Rosie collects the children from their out-of-hours foster carer on New Year's Day and instantly recognises Archie from a domestic violence workshop she helped with. Rosie remembers that when asked what he enjoyed most about the course, Archie said, 'The biscuits'. Social workers are concerned that Archie and Bobbi have been neglected.

Cruel to Be Kind is the true story of Max, age six. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn't the only one in denial; his whole family are, too.

After taking a few weeks off work, Casey is presented with a new foster child: 14-year-old Elise, whose Mum left her at just five years old. At first, she’s no trouble at all, that is until she falsely accuses another carer, Jan, of acting inappropriately towards her. It turns out this isn’t the first lie Elise has told—her previous carer was constantly following up allegations Elise had made of people bullying her, trying to have sex with her or hurting her physically.

In her new book, the Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author of Damaged tells the story of the Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well balanced girl, Dawn's outward appearance masked a traumatic childhood so awful, that even she could not remember it.

Provides new and highly effective techniques for parents dealing with behavioral challenges with their children. Intended for parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, and caretakers of at-risk, ADD/ADHD/RAD,ODD, adopted children and children with behavioral and emotional challenges. Bryan Post speaks to parents about the challenges they face when dealing with behaviors that are often present for children who have experienced trauma. He helps parents understand the impact of pre-birth and early life trauma and the impact of interruptions in the attachment process.

Understand developmental trauma and reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Learn tips and tricks to help you to navigate "the system". Get resource recommendations that will provide a way forward. Adopting or fostering a child with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is beyond challenging. They may have violent outbursts, engage in outlandish behavior like lying, stealing, playing with feces, and hoarding food. With histories of early childhood trauma, kids with RAD too often break even the most loving of caregivers.

If you're the White parent of a transracially or internationally adopted child, you may have been told that if you try your best and work your hardest, good intentions and a whole lot of love will be enough to give your child the security, attachment, and nurturing family life they need to thrive. The only problem? It's not true. What White Parents Need to Know About Transracial Adoption breaks down the dynamics that frequently fly under the radar of the whitewashed, happily-ever-after adoption stories we hear so often.

Author and Instagram star Heather Avis has made it her mission to introduce the world to the unique gifts and real-life challenges of those who have been pushed to the edges of society. Mama to three adopted kids - two with Down Syndrome - Heather encourages us all to take a breath, whisper a prayer, laugh a little, and make room for the wildflowers.

Lara was seven when her birth mother died from a drug overdose. With no extended family to look after her, she was put into foster care. The care system failed Lara and now she is failing her son. Lara and her one-year-old son, Arthur, are brought to experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, by their social worker. Lara has fled an abusive relationship and Arthur has suspected non-accidental injuries. Cathy must monitor Lara whenever she is with her son, day and night. She cannot let them out of her sight for a minute.

"I'm going to love my baby and give her lots of attention," Jade said. "I'll show my mum she's wrong." Jade, 17, is pregnant, homeless, and alone when she's brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby, but, little more than a child herself, she struggles with the responsibilities her daughter brings. Cathy is worried as soon as Jade arrives: she's never looked after a pregnant teenager before, but none of the mother-and-baby carers is free.

Cathy Glass, international best-selling author, tells the shocking story of Zeena, a young Asian girl desperate to escape from her family. When 14-year-old Zeena begs to be taken into care with a non-Asian family, she is clearly petrified. But of what?Placed in the home of experienced foster carer Cathy and her family, Zeena gradually settles into her new life, but misses her little brothers and sisters terribly.

It's the night before Christmas when Casey and Mike get the call. A 12-year-old girl, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her father is on a ventilator, fighting for his life, while her mother is currently on remand in prison. Despite claiming she attacked him in self-defence, she's been charged with his attempted murder. The girl is called Bella, and she's refusing to say anything. The trouble is that she is also the only witness....

A desperate mother must grapple with impossible choices as her young son becomes too dangerous to live at home, but is only growing bigger, stronger, and more violent while in treatment. When Keri and her husband adopt Devon, he has concerning behaviors, but she's confident all he needs is the love of a forever family.

Building the Bonds of Attachment is the third edition of a critically 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.

Can writing your story save your life? I should have come with a manual. My parents thought they were getting one thing when they adopted me - a baby of their own - when what they got was a human being with a story of her own. As a child, I traded safety for silence. As an adult, I had no idea who I was, why I quit nearly everything I started, why I struggled with things that came more easily to my friends (jobs, relationships, finances, self-esteem), why I seemed hell-bent on throwing myself away.

When Deb Moerke and her husband decided to become foster parents, they never imagined how their lives would change. And never did they imagine their worst nightmare coming true: Their five-year-old foster daughter, Hannah, murdered at the hands of her birth mom, Karen. The Moerkes were overwhelmed with horror and grief. And just when they didn’t think they could bear any more, Deb received a phone call from Karen in prison. Facing a life sentence for Hannah’s murder, she was pregnant. And Karen had an incredible request: Would Deb take her unborn baby and love it as her own?

Fourteen-year-old Shazia has been taken into care after a conversation at school leads her teacher to suspect that the teenager's family are planning to send her to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. To her family's fury, Shazia is sent to live with foster carer Maggie Hartley whilst social services investigate. But with Shazia denying everything and social services unable to find any evidence to support the teacher's fears, Shazia is allowed to return home. But a few weeks later, Maggie is woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from a terrified Shazia, who has managed to escape the family home through a window.