New Resource Provides Unique Glimpse at Foster Parenting

Jan. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- (New Jersey) — “Today more than 420,000 children live in out-of-home placements, or foster care, and of those more than 114,000 are waiting to be adopted,” according to data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System for FY 2009 (the latest available statistics). Some of them enter and leave the system in just a few hours while others live in the system for years, some even aging out at the age of majority in their respective states. The people who care for those children are often the unsung heroes of the foster care system. Welcoming new charges into their homes at all hours of the night, foster parents wipe the tears, bandage the wounds and heal the hearts of children.

“Foster care is something that touches everyone’s heart, but is easily dismissed as something ‘I could never do,’ said Allen Walker a Florida foster parent. “When starting in foster care many people are entering into uncharted territory.”

A new resource, The Foster Parenting Toolbox, offers those parents a useful tool and guide in their journey as professional parent. A compilation of stories from foster parents, social workers, biological parents, former foster youth and child welfare advocates, The Foster Parenting Toolbox provides a wide range of viewpoints on various topics.

“Being a part of this book is giving back, in my own small way,” said Denise Kendrick, current foster parent and contributor to The Foster Parenting Toolbox. “I hope it will help other parents care for the precious children we are entrusted with, if even for a short time. There is no other resource for foster parents to help guide them like this book. It is such an important contribution to the fostering community.”

From a step-by-step guide to becoming a foster parent and tips for protecting yourself against false allegations to helpful ways to transition kids and ways to work with birth parents, The Foster Parenting Toolbox is an all-inclusive guide to foster parenting. And woven between the nuts and bolts articles about foster parenting are stories from those who have lived the experience – foster parents who have had to say goodbye to children they loved, former foster youth who offer words of wisdom to foster parents, and caseworkers and support people who have learned from the daily interactions with caring, humble people who raise tough and traumatized children.

“This book is the culmination of more than 10 years of work as editor of Fostering Families Today magazine,” said Kim Phagan-Hansel, book editor. “I’m pleased to provide foster parents throughout the country with a resource they can use day or night, through hard times and joyous celebrations. My hope is that everyone who reads this book will come away with valuable insight into how to improve the lives of children who have the unfortunate experience of living in foster care.”

With a March release date, The Foster Parenting Toolbox is available online at http://www.amazon.com/Foster-Parenting-Toolbox-edited-Pha... for $29.95. For review copies or to interview the editor and those who entered submissions, contact EMK Press Publisher Carrie Kitze at 732-469-7544.

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Publisher of books and information for adoptive families, adoptees, foster parents, foster children, birth parents, and the professionals who work with them.