Welcome Home: A Guide for Adoptive, Foster, and Treatment Foster Parents

Of the hosts of other books and materials that are out there on this subject, this book is the best of its kind that I have ever come across: And as an adoptive parent who adopted through the foster care system, and now as the president of our local foster parent association, I can tell you that I have read a lot of this type of material. To me, this book excels in its wide-ranging presentation of the many issues one might encounter (the children, the "system", court, social workers, child behaviors, attachment, extended family, therapy, etc...) when fostering or seeking to adopt. There are other fine works out there on specific issues or aspects of the sytem, and to his credit Dr. Alexander cites many of them. But when looking for a book which touches on the many different aspects of the system in such a comprehensive and insightful way -- and especially for those who do not have previous experience with the system -- this book simply has no peer in my opinion. It was my intention to have our foster parent association purchase this book and provide it to ALL newly trained foster parents as they completed their classes. To my dismay, I learned that this book was no longer going to be available. Even in light of that disappointing news, I felt the book to be such a valuable resource that we purchased every remaining copy we could find. Now we give it out selectively to those whom we feel will benefit from it the most. I implore Dr. Alexander and his publishers... PLEASE MAKE THIS BOOK AVAILABLE AGAIN! A newly updated edition perhaps? You will have one guaranteed, though admittedly small, market for it within our county and association. But I have quite a few contacts with other associations and agencies -- some nationwide -- and if I learned that this book were possibly going to become available again, I would do my part to make sure that all of those contacts were informed as to the quality and availability of this very fine book.

This is truly a unique book in the adoption category. While most books on the subject offer good advice, much of what they share falls in the area of common sense. This book, on the other hand, takes us into the real world experience of adopted kids and their parents. The chapter on attachment is the best I've come across, and the author tackles those hard-to-deal with topics (sexual behavior in children; children and psychiatric medications; sibling relationships; talking with kids about being adopted; choosing the right therapist for your child) in a sensitive and direct manner. Even though the book is geared to parents, I really believe teachers and counselors who work with adopted children need to read this also.