Fostering a Child's Recovery: Family Placement for Traumatized Children

by Terry Philpot, Mike Thomas, Mary Walsh (Foreword by)

Overview

The overwhelming majority of children and young people in care today are fostered, but for some this only increases their problems through untreated trauma, ill-judged placements, poorly supported foster carers and multiple moves.

This practical and evidence-based book outlines the principles of family placement on the basis of planning and evidence, and explores the qualities, skills and insights that create positive placement outcomes. Fostering a Child's Recovery shows how the key to good fostering is well-trained and skilled foster carers who form part of a team of professionals who surround the child.

This book will benefit all professionals and parents involved in providing recovery for traumatized children and young people in ensuring successful placements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843103271
Publisher:	Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Publication date:	01/15/2009
Series:	Delivering Recovery
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mike Thomas MSW, CQSW is consultant for external foster care, Mary Walsh Institute. He has been involved in childcare for 25 years and in foster care since 1984, first as a worker and since 1987 also as a foster carer. He has worked in both the public and independent fostering sectors. Terry Philpot is author and editor of several books, including (with Anthony Douglas) Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times. He co-authored the previous four books in the Delivering Recovery series. He writes occasionally for The Tablet, the Guardian and other publications, and has won several awards for his journalism.

Table of Contents

Foreword. Acknowledgements. A Note on Terminology. Introduction. Chapter 1: The Context of Family Placement. Chapter 2: Children and Their Histories. Chapter 3: The Carers. Chapter 4: Fostering, Loss and Opportunity. Chapter 5: Practising to Make Perfect: Introduction and the Practice Family. Chapter 6: How Placements Can Succeed. Chapter 7: Toward Independence. Endnotes. References. The Story of SACCS. The Authors. Subject Index. Author Index.

Editorial Reviews

This perceptively small book contains a welth of information and a host of well-researched and -documented initiatives setting out the central issues in fostering traumatised children...The statistics on foster carers are helpfully set out, giving timely reminders about how organisations can learn to keep their foster carers and looking at the fact that most foster carers have altruistic motives...This book reinforces the fact that foster carers need a status that reflects their standing within the Child Care Team. They should be treated as fellow professionals, given full information about their children and know that what they say and feel is important...This neat little book holds a wealth of information not just helpful to foster carers and social workers but to anyone reparenting or step-parenting a chnild or becoming an adoptive parent.

Children & Society