Training Materials

Today I thought I'd share the books and videos we have read/watched as a part of our training process. This is a combined list from both of us.

A Child Called It: A heart-breaking and shocking true story of the abuse of a child. It ultimately speaks to the resilience of the human spirit.

Lost Boy: The second book from the same author of the Child Called It. This is the story of his life as a preteen-adult in the foster care system

Adopting the Hurt Child: This one was really good- it kind of speaks to the "worst case scenario" type of situations, but overall has a lot of useful info and ideas.

Ending Lying, Stealing, and Defiance (DVD) - This was a pretty good video, but I wouldn't say it was the best ever. It is probably a good introduction, but if you've read other parenting books or seen other ideas, then this is probably redundant.

Understanding the Traumatized Child (DVD): This video gives a good overall picture, we got a lot of the same info from the "Adopting the Hurt Child" book, but this video is well done too.

Lifebooks: This was a short corespondance course that I found on-line. It is a down-loadable file and is really well done. It gives concise, concrete info on how to make a Lifebook and what to include. It also comes with free template pages - I didn't find them to be highly useful, but the do inspire some ideas.

Allegation Prevention: This was another corespondance course from the same website as the Lifebook one. It was okay, but not great. I did get a few kernels of really good info and some helpful tips.

Working with Birthparents I: Visitation (DVD): This video had a weird format and kind of a strange presentation, but the info provided was pretty good. It was basic, but decent as far as content goes.

Parenting Someone Else's Child: I liked this book. I skipped some parts that went over some of the same stuff that I'd found in other resources, but I liked the author's perspective. She also offered some concrete advice and ideas for how to set things up and and make things work on a day to day basis. Less theory, more practical.

Currently, I'm reading "Telling the Truth to you Adopted or Foster Child" - I'll let you know how it goes!