As I haven't got any more meetings with the agency or paperwork to complete, I've been filling my spare time with lots of reading relating to foster care. I love reading anyway, and I'm finding that I'm learning so much. It's even got me reflecting on my teaching experiences; a lot of what I now know would have been very useful back then. I won't go into details, but there seems to be a lot of issues mentioned in the literature that relate to some of the children at school, and it's made me wonder about their home lives.
I thought I'd use this post to list the books I've read so far:
'Damaged: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Forgotten Child' by Cathy Glass (a book written by a foster carer about her experiences with a very abused young girl.)
'Wednesday's Child' by Shane Dunphy (a childcare worker and his experiences with three families.)
'If you don't stick with me, who will?: The challenges and rewards of foster care' edited by Henrietta Bond (a collection of first-person accounts from foster carers giving a very real insight into what it's like to care for children - a very interesting book!)
'Providing a secure base in long-term foster care' by Mary Beek and Gillian Schofield (currently reading this one - this text uses case studies to show how children with backgrounds of loss and adversity need the experience of sensitive parenting and a secure base to contain their anxieties, heal their sense of hurt, build self-esteem and make them confident and competent - all based around attachment theory.)
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4 comments:
Hey, Em... I just found your blog through Mindy's. We are starting our foster to adopt classes on Sept 4th... So excited to hear of your journey in the midst of ours.
http://thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-red-pill-challenge-fields-of.html
I don't think that will come across as an active link, but you can cut/paste.
You might enjoy this bloggers book club too... Angel adopted a 7 year old from Guataumala, so lots of the attachment issues relate to those of us planning to foster or foster to adopt older children/sib groups.
And since you are a self proclaimed book-a-holic, I thought you might enjoy the read.
Em, any updates? We are starting our certification classes on 9/4...
Em, how are you? I haven't heard from you in ages...thought I'd pop over to see how things are going for you. Any updates?
--Mindy
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