Topics
Aging Out - the Film
A PBS documentary about the obstacles faced by children in Foster Care. Also includes a link of resources.
Aging out of Foster Care
In his chapter in On Your Own without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable Populations, Mark Courtney reviews the policies and programs that support former foster care youth as they make their way into adulthood. This brief summarizes his chapter, outlining how youth who have aged out of foster care fare, and the areas for improvement in the services that support them after they leave care.
Foster Kids face tough times after age 18
Article about foster kids aging out of the system produced by NPR.
Therapeutic Parenting: A handbook for parents of children who have disorders of attachment
This manual is designed to help parents of children who have disorders of attachment learn to parent their children effectively.
Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children
Attachment disorder information and support.
Attachment Disorder Experts
Library of Books related to attachment. Also explains different types of therapy.
Attachment Disorder Maryland
Attachment Therapists, Information, and Research in Maryland.
Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children
In BUILDING THE BONDS OF ATTACHMENT Dr. Daniel Hughes follows Katie through her life with abusive birth parents and many foster homes, showing how therapeutic parenting combined with specialized therapy can heal negative effects of reactive attachment disorder and transform children like Katie into happy, content, and caring people.
Attachment-Focused Parenting: Effective Strategies to Care for Children
In his highly-skilled and talented manner, Dr. Daniel Hughes has managed to take the complex terms and concepts of attachment theory and make it accessible for the reader. Hughes helps us to better appreciate that the parent-child relationship is a two-way interaction, with each being greatly influenced and affected by the other. Of equal importance, he helps the reader to see that parenting goes way beyond guidance and discipline; rather, both parent and child require a context for understanding what happens between them, and each is influenced by their own history.
Parenting From the Inside Out
In Parenting from the Inside Out, child psychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and early childhood expert Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., explore the extent to which our childhood experiences actually do shape the way we parent. Drawing upon stunning new findings in neurobiology and attachment research, they explain how interpersonal relationships directly impact the development of the brain, and offer parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children.
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has treated children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, witnesses, children raised in closets and cages, and victims of family violence. Here he tells their stories of trauma and transformation.
Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience After Neglect and Trauma
Find practical, yet flexible ways to move children--from infants to early teens--into their new families. Learn the effects of neglect and trauma on brain and emotional development, and more importantly, how to recognize them. Discover home and school approaches that encourage children to flourish, even after trauma and neglect.
Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow
This is a practical, informative, and "parent friendly" guide for anyone charged with the responsibility of parenting an adopted or foster child with a traumatic history of neglect and/or abuse.
Financial Aid
Adoption Grants -- Affording Adoption
List of adoption related grants and loans.
College Scholarships for foster children
List of scholarships for foster children entering college and state by state list of awards.
College Tuition waiver and Scholarship programs
List of states with adoption college tuition waivers and states exploring similar programs.
Financial Aid Finder
Article about searching for student aid as a foster child.
Gift of Adoption Fund
The grants ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 are awarded to pre-approved adopting parents who demonstrate an unusual degree of financial hardship. The needs of the waiting child are also part of their criteria. Medical special needs, sibling groups, and older children are given priority.
Youth Scholarship
A college scholarship program for adopted or foster children.
Adoptive Families Magazine
Adoption guides, stories, articles, agency finders, news, events, attorneys, home-studies. A wealth of varied information
Dave Thomas Foundation
Extremely extensive list of resources and links.
North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
Founded in 1974 by adoptive parents, the North American Council on Adoptable Children is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them.
Kids are Waiting | Fix Foster Care
Foster Care Policy Reform facts publications events and meetings
Adoption from Foster Care: Aiding Children While Saving Public Money
From the Brookings Institution, a paper discussing findings from a recent national survey of child health provide new evidence that adoption can save the public money while improving the life prospects of youngsters who have been maltreated in their early years.
Adoption Tax Credit 2013
Online Community Support
Adoptive Parent Support Forum
Extremely extensive and covers every imaginable demographic. Really wonderful forums and a great community resource!
Foster Care Alumni
This site focuses on people who have aged out of foster care and aims to build a community
Foster Club
Foster care site geared towards kids. Lots of info about support groups in different states Extremely extensive and covers every imaginable demographic. Really wonderful forums and a great community resource! This site focuses on people who have aged out of foster care and aims to build a community Foster care site geared towards kids. Lots of info about support groups in different states
Adopt Us Kids Resources for Professionals
The National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUsKids (NRCRRFAP), along with the other AdoptUsKids partners, has developed a number of valuable resources to enhance and support the efforts of States, Tribes and Territories in recruiting and retaining foster, adoptive, relative and kin parents.
Searching for Birth-parents
A list of articles and support for those who wish to search for their birth-parents.
Adoption Tax Credit
Explains who is eligible for the adoption tax credit and outlines it's specifics.
Federal Tax Guide for Foster Parents
The guide includes important tax information and links to all forms needed to complete your taxes.