4 books every foster carer needs to read this world book day
Here is a selection of 4 books every foster carer needs to read. They have been recommended by our Foster Wales Newport staff and current foster carers. Some are stories from children in care or foster carers, others are advice and guidance on how to support children who are looked after. Either way, they provide a great insight into fostering.
1. The Foster Parenting Toolbox: A practical, hands-on approach to parenting children in Foster Care by Kim Phagan-Hansel
Each child will be unique and require a different set of tools in your toolbox. Over 100 foster parents in the trenches, case workers, social workers, and judges contributed to this book. Helping all those on the child’s team understand and work better with the children who are entrusted to their care. Covering topics from new-borns to teens and everything in between, this book will help not only foster parents, but be beneficial to those who work with foster parents: case workers, social workers, judges, and others.
2. The Boy No One Loved – Casey Watson
This is Sunday Times bestselling author and foster carer Casey Watson’s first heart-breaking memoir. Justin was five years old; his brothers two and three. Their mother, a heroin addict, had left them alone again. Later that day, after trying to burn down the family home, Justin was taken into care.
3. More to me – Saty Cornelious
The story that ‘More to Me’ tells is not just a reflection of one story, but many. The story’s main character, Bri, a teen in foster care, her family, and their situation isn’t based solely on one person’s life, but on a compilation of information, interviews and experience.
Bri struggles with going from a caregiver to being a child in care. This is often the case with teens in care—all they’ve known is the responsibility for themselves, their siblings, and sometimes even their parent.
The subject can be a little heavy, but it discusses topics that are relevant to anyone, not just families in foster care. The book’s overarching themes include trust, depression, and heartbreak. But underlying all of it is hope.
4. Attachment, Trauma and Resilience – Kate and Brian Cairns
Over a 25-year period Kate and Brian Cairns, along with their three birth children, fostered 12 children ranging in age from four to 15 at the time of joining the family. In this remarkable and inspirational book, Kate and Brian draw upon the wealth of their personal and professional experience to offer an insight into the realities of family life with children who have lived through overwhelming stress. This book show how the family responded to children displaying powerful feelings and difficult behaviours following their experiences of attachment difficulties, loss, abuse and trauma.
To learn more about fostering visit – Fostering in Newport | Foster Wales Newport
