Child Welfare

Bestselling novelist Gay Courter recounts her experiences as a Guardian ad Litem, a volunteer court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for children involved in the legal system due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Her story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and is an inspiration for anyone who has ever looked up from a newspaper and wondered, "What can I do to help?"

A Foster Family Field Guide I finally did it. After caring for 27 foster children over 55 years, I now have the time to share some practical guidance with those who are, or aspire to be, new foster parents. Whether you’re a foster parent, teacher, social worker, foster youth, or advocate, “Foster Family Field Guide” is a heartfelt, action-ready guide to help you love bravely, grow your “nest,” and endure, without losing your relationships or your sanity. Here’s just a glimpse of what you’ll discover inside: Actionable trauma-responsive strategies for managing challenging ...

A groundbreaking approach to transforming traumatic legacies passed down in families over generations, by an acclaimed expert in the field Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate...

Many foster and adoptive parents are raising children with complex emotional trauma, desperate for answers to heal their families. Caught off guard, these families find themselves with shattered dreams, shattered homes, and shattered hearts, with nowhere to turn for answers. Extended family members, friends, and the greater community don't understand the challenges and can, sometimes, add to the problems these families face, prolonging the healing process for all.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER NATIONAL BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR A “vivid and devastating” (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girl—from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott “From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling...

Joining the ranks of Evicted and The New Jim Crow, a former caseworker’s searing, clear-eyed investigation of the child welfare system—from foster care to incarceration—that exposes the deep-rooted biases shaping the system, witnessed through the lives of several Black families. Dr...

The American child welfare system is bent toward protecting adults, not children. Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where kids can thrive?

The story of foster care in the United States is the story of the failure of the social safety net to aid poor, largely black, parents in their attempt to make a home for their children. Shattered Bonds tells this story as no other book has before -- from the perspective of a prominent black...

The eldest of seven children born to an abusive father, I endured a childhood of unspeakable violence and ridicule. This courageous memoir details the hardships I faced as I desperately tried to be accepted as a son to a father who does not believe I am his child. I did not endure years of abuse as a child to remain silent. Now I am not ashamed of what I suffered as a child anymore. My story is not easy to read or even comprehend, but it is my truth and my right to tell because it happened to me. It took 58 years to accept that my past cannot be changed and to finally let my past go. I can ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than 1 million copies in print! The authors of No-Drama Discipline and The Yes Brain explain the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures in this pioneering, practical book. “Simple, smart, and effective solutions to your child’s...

ONE REMARKABLE WOMAN. OVER 30 YEARS OF FOSTERING. CARER TO MORE THAN 150 CHILDREN. Can Cathy help troubled Lily sort her life out and piece together the truth? Late on boxing day, Cathy hears a strange noise outside her house, only to find Lily, a child she fostered ten years ago, shivering on...

An award-winning scholar and author of Killing the Black Body exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system “A brilliant and impassioned call for abolition.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse...

An essential modern parenting guide for restoring trust and security to your home life from renowned psychiatrist and Dr. Phil Show regular, Dr. Charles Sophy. Over the last twenty years, Dr. Charles Sophy has been a staple on The Dr. Phil Show, where he has guided and coached millions of people...

An instinctual pull as old as time - a grandmother wanting to hold her newborn grandchild - bring readers into an unbelievable ordeal. Author Tina Fumo travels to a small town in Canada and finds herself in the most stressful situation of her life. The 'authorities' have apprehended her two week old granddaughter. What her and her family go through to get back their baby will absolutely shock you. You'll wonder if this is really Canada. You will surely cry. You may even laugh. But make no mistake...what you find out in the end will make your jaw drop.

Breeanna's life was marked by homelessness, addiction, and survival on the streets of Georgetown. Living in a deteriorating motorhome and caught in a volatile relationship with her boyfriend, Anthony, she faced overwhelming challenges. When she became pregnant, she knew she couldn’t care for her child. Desperate for support, she turned to her father, who entrusted the baby to compassionate family friends—a devoted couple determined to provide the love and stability the infant needed to recover from opioid withdrawal. But their efforts were upended when Anthony emerged from jail, ...

FOR THE TAKING follows Donnalee Vodka’s journey from a brutal childhood into a life shaped by survival, chance, and unexpected moments of grace. After her mother’s death at age seven, Donnalee is left with a father who turns cruel and violent—until his disappearance places her in the hands of “Uncle Digger,” a man whose fists are only the beginning of what she fears. As she approaches her twelfth birthday, she senses something darker coming… and runs before it’s too late. What follows is a raw and unpredictable odyssey across the American West—from the Nevada desert to ...

This is an unconventional biography of an unconventional woman. Eglantyne Jebb moved from drawing rooms to war zones, often defying expectation and at times breaking the law. Although not fond of individual children, she founded Save the Children and originated the revolutionary concept of children's human rights. Clare Mulley brings to life the brilliant, charismatic, passionate, and compassionate woman, whose work has saved millions of lives and permanently changed the way the world treats children. Save the Children ambassador Joely Richardson narrates this extraordinary story.

Children of Coercive Control extends Evan Stark's path-breaking analysis of interpersonal violence to children, showing that coercive control is the most important cause and context of child abuse and child homicide outside a war zone, as well as of the sexual abuse, denigration, exploitation, isolation, and subordination of children. The book provides a working model of the coercive control of children and illustrates its dynamics and consequences with dramatic cases drawn from the headlines and Dr. Stark's forensic practice.

A bold Christian voice challenges progressives to confront the one racial disparity they have ignored for decades: the breakdown of the black family. Today, 70 percent of black children are born to unmarried parents and close to half grow up without a father at home. Both figures are...

Bestselling author and teacher Casey Watson shares the horrifying true story of Kiera Bentley, a 12-year-old girl with a deeply shocking secret she’s too young to even understand. When Casey first meets Kiera, a small slight girl who’s just lashed out at a fellow pupil in assembly, she...