Most children who are fostered or adopted have some level of contact with their birth family -- whether face-to-face or by letter -- yet most of the time the psychological impact of contact on the child isn't considered.This book explores what attachment, neuroscience and trauma tell us about how contact affects children, and shows how poorly executed contact can be unhelpful or even harmful to the child. Assessment frameworks are provided which take the child's developmental needs...

The story that captivated a nation?how a horribly neglected little girl was rescued by her loving adoptive parentsIn July 2005, a six-year-old girl named Danielle was removed from her Florida home after authorities found her living in bug-ridden squalor, subjected to horrific neglect and so damaged by her own mother that recovery seemed hopeless. But hope was waiting for Dani?and help. In October 2007, Bernie and Diane Lierow, a hard-working couple with five boys o...

Ruth was a ghost of a girl when she arrived into foster mother Maggie Hartley's care. Pale, frail and withdrawn, it was clear to Maggie that Ruth had seen and experienced things that no 11-year-old should have to, that she's been conditioned to 'see no evil, speak no evil'. Ruth is in desperate need of help, but can Maggie get through to her and unlock the harrowing secret she carries?Through love, reassurance and patience, Maggie starts to unravel Ruth's painful past - a past defi...

News correspondent Michael Nicholson went to Sarajevo to report on the horrors of the Bosnian War, but ended up smuggling one little girl away from the carnage.Natasha’s Story is the heart-wrenching account of how the TV reporter risked everything to bring a nine-year-old orphan home with him, and gave her a new life 1,000 miles from her native land.The true story, which went on to become the award-winning film Welcome to Sarajevo, is both an indictment of the horror and fu...

**An astonishing memoir from the author of The Paris Wife and When the Stars Go Dark, detailing the years Paula McLain and her two sisters spent as foster children after being abandoned by both parents in California in the early 1970s."Demonstrates the true meaning of family." —Chicago Tribune**As wards of the State, the sisters spent the next 14 years moving from foster home to foster home. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an un...

Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows.When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t copin...

“A moving and riveting memoir about one family’s love and tragedy…beautifully researched, and expressed” (Anne Lamott).Early one Tuesday morning John Brooks went to his teenage daughter’s room. Casey was gone, but she had left a note: The car is parked at the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m sorry. Within hours a security video showed Casey stepping off the bridge.Brooks spent several years after Casey’s suicide trying to understand what led his seventeen-y...

Preparing for adoption involves more than setting up a nursery. It also means learning how to be more sensitive to the needs of adoptees so adoptive parents can be better prepared when their adopted children deal with emotional issues concerning their adoption. Besides addressing thoughtless comments regarding adoption, this article exposes several of the myths linked with adoption. It also explains the losses linked with adoption and how it's important for everyone involved in the adoptio...

With 60,000 children in the care system and national child protection scandals hitting the headlines at an alarming rate, adoption and fostering are typical issues. It can be hard for prospective adopters and foster carers to get comprehensive, no-nonsense advice and guidance.This book is here to help. Packed with practical advice and the latest information, it takes you through the entire process: from making initial enquiries and starting an application, to the approval process a...

Children and young people in care who have been traumatized need a therapeutic environment where they can heal and which meets their emotional and developmental needs.This book provides a model of care for traumatized children and young people, based on theory and practice experience pioneered at the Lighthouse Foundation, Australia. The authors explain the impact of trauma on child development, drawing on psychodynamic, attachment and neurobiological trauma theories. The practical...

Is your child defiant, often angry, frequently lying, inordinately affectionate to strangers, lacking in remorse, and seemingly unable to trust anyone? Antisocial behaviors and attitudes like these can lead to a diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Adopted children are especially prone to develop it.Parenting the Difficult Child: A Biblical Perspective on Reactive Attachment Disorder applies a biblical lens to a child exhibiting defiant and aggressive behaviors and RAD ...

In these wonderfully straightforward accounts of what it means to children to be adopted, nineteen boys and girls, from eight to sixteen years old—and from every social background—confide their feelings about this crucial fact of their lives. It is deeply affecting to listen to these children as they reveal their questions, frustrations, difficulties, and joys with an honesty that is immediate, convincing, and stirring. Their generosity will provide solace and strength for thousands of oth...