CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY PROGRAMS - PUBLICATIONS
FOSTER CARE EDUCATION SERIES
Each of the workbooks listed here is divided into discussion sessions of approximately two and one-half hours in length. The workbooks provide a structure to help participants organize class discussion and provide room to summarize the instuctor's comments and those of other class members. The workbooks are learner centered in that they start with the participants' problems and expressed needs. They provide experiential exercises and the structure for the development of skills around current problems the participants are experiencing with the children in their homes. There is space for the participants to include their own feelings and statements about their own families. These are not programmed learning texts, but rather, provide each participant with a personalized textbook that can be used to review material covered in class at anytime. They require minimal literacy and have been used successfully with foster parents who have had little formal education.
Each workbook has an accompanying instructor's manual which contains detailed instructions on the use of the workbook, suggestions for organizing classes and a brief outline of appropriate material to be covered in discussions. All instuctor's manuals include a bibliography and instructions for carrying out a variety of activities. Some also include additional background materials.
FOSTER PARENT EDUCATION SERIES
ISSUES IN FOSTERING - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
FOSTER CARE STAFF DEVELOPMENT
RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF QUALITY HOMES - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
CHALLENGES TO SERVICES CONTINUITY - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
PREVENTING ABUSE IN FOSTER CARE - by Emily Jean McFadden, M.S.W.
ISSUES IN FOSTERING - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
This is the basic introductory course and focuses on the foster parents' role as part of the professional Team serving children and their families, separation and grief as it affects children and their families, and other information needed for families to make an informed decision about fostering. Eight sessions. (1999)
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES - by Phyllis E. Griffin, M.S.W. and Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
Designed to provide those families who wish to work intensively with the parents of the children in their homes the knowledge and skills they will need. It is recommended as a second course following Issues in Fostering for such families. Eight sessions. (1999)
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TRAINING FOSTER PARENTS TO HANDLE LYING AND STEALING - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
Provides information to understand why children engage in dishonest behavior, what this means in terms of development, and how families can encourage honesty. Four sessions. (1978)
FOSTERING DISCIPLINE - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
Focuses on discipline as teaching and helps foster parents understand why corporal punishment is inappropriate for children in foster care. It provides a positive and systematic approach to developing positive discipline plans for handling problematic behavior. Ten sessions. (1984)
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EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT - by Emily Jean McFadden, M.S.W.
Designed to enhance the identity of the child in foster care, the child’s sense of belonging, and the child’s feelings of worthiness. Material assists foster parents in understanding the importance of ethnic identity, extended family, and the role of fantasy in emotional development. Eight sessions. (1984)
GUIDING THE SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOSTER CHILD - by Carolyn Veresh, Ph.D.
Stresses foster parents role in the development of healthy sexual identification, provision of appropriate sex education, and the environment for healthy sexual growth and development. It also discusses problematic behaviors and ways to handle them. Eight sessions. (1978)
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FOSTERING THE CHILD WHO HAS BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED - by Emily Jean McFadden, M.S.W.
Examines the unique problems, emotional needs, and behavior patterns the child brings to the foster home. Several sections deal with managing behavior and the foster parent’s therapeutic role, and the importance of protecting children from further sexual exploitation. Fours sessions. (1986)
FOSTERING THE BATTERED AND ABUSED CHILD - by Emily Jean McFadden, M.S.W.
Focuses on the dynamics of abuse, the special needs of children who have been abused, and ways to work with such a child. Alternatives to physical discipline are stressed. Eight sessions. (1978)
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FOSTERING THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD - by James C. Piers, M.S.W.
Focuses on the development and typical behaviors of an often overlooked stage; stresses the foster parents’ role in providing guidance, working with school personnel, participating in educational planning, enhancing ethnic identity, and handling typical problematic behaviors. Eight sessions. (1984)
RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF QUALITY HOMES - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
This manual provides a step by step process for recruiting the types of families agencies need as a resource for the children in their care. Includes material for an agency visioning process, need assessment and community campaign. Recruitment and retention strategies are based on making foster parents full members of a team serving children and their families in a community setting. Eight sessions. (1999)
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CHALLENGES TO SERVICES CONTINUITY - by Patricia Ryan, Ph.D.
This curriculum is designed to upgrade and integrate the skills of foster care and adoption workers in order to improve permanency planning services to children. There is strong emphasis on case assessment and planning. It also provides the skills staff need to work with resource families: foster families trained to work directly with the families of the children in their care in community and neighborhood settings. Twelve sessions. (1999)
PREVENTING ABUSE IN FOSTER CARE - by Emily Jean McFadden, M.S.W.
Provides workers, supervisors and administrators an overview of maltreatment in family foster homes, with emphasis on practice skills, including identification of high risk children and assessment of foster families. Methods of developing a behavior plan with the family and responding to red flags are included. Ten sessions. (1984)
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Online Ordering for Publications
For more information about ordering from the Foster Care Education Series contact:
Child and Family Publications
Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities
203 Boone Hall
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
(734) 487-0372
fax: (734) 487-0284
