Foster Care Adoption

As a teenager, Kristin Berry had heard all the horror stories surrounding foster care and adoption - abuse, neglect, rejection, anger, and misunderstandings. But instead of closing her heart, God opened it wide. This is Kristin's honest, unvarnished story of some of her experiences as a foster parent of 23 children over the course of nine years. What she learned is that living in a foster home is like living with a revolving door. You never know who will arrive or who you will have to say goodbye to. Leaving the door open means there will be heartache and pain, but also adventure and unexpected joy.

Adopting or fostering a child brings its own unique set of challenges only another parent facing the same uphill climb could possibly understand. From parenting children with traumatic pasts, to dealing with attachment issues, to raising a children with special needs, it can sometimes be a struggle just getting through the day. Mike Berry knows the loneliness and isolation you can easily feel in your particular parenting role - because he's been there.

Child Protection Services have been involved with Billy and his mother for some time now. He has been happily settled in a kinship placement with his grandmother and enjoys his pet cat, interacting with neighbors, and even taking piano lessons. As the story unfolds, Billy's grandmother has unexpectedly passed away and so the story of Billy Had to Move begins. Unfortunately, Billy's mother cannot be located. Mr. Murphy, Billy's social worker, places him in the foster home of Amy, Tim, and their baby "Colly".

If you are considering adoption or foster care or are already somewhere in this difficult and complicated process, you need trusted information from people who have been where you are. Mike and Kristin Berry have adopted eight children and cared for another 23 kids in their nine-year stint as foster parents. They aren't just experts. They have experienced every emotional high and low and encountered virtually every situation imaginable as parents. Now, they want to share what they've learned with you.

Your church needs orphans as much as orphans need your church. Find out why and how you can get involved in Until Every Child Is Home.

More people than ever are loving other people's children--in stepfamilies, extended families, adoptive families, and other situations that have more to do with love than biology. If you are loving someone else's child, you'll face challenges-- and this book will help you meet them. In Loving Someone Else's Child, Angela Hunt talks respectfully, affectionately, and expertly to parents like me caught in an imperfect, sometimes impossible, family. She is a family expert with courage and a big heart.Dave Kopp, former editor Christian Parenting Today Newly revised and updated.

Book Two: The Prequel to The Billionaire's List A baby is born. Years later, a woman dies. When a drug-addicted, middle-aged woman is found deceased next to a scrawled note mentioning an abandoned baby girl from decades earlier, Detective Claire Miller must figure out how and why the woman died. Was it a guilty conscience? Or murder? And who was this baby? The investigation takes Claire through the red tape of the state foster care system. As her journey uncovers more leads, will she determine the cause of death and find the missing infant—now an adult? A chilling tale comprising three ...

Filled with real-life stories and practical advice, Called to Care starts by helping you honestly assess your motivation to help - sometimes the wrong motivation sets the stage for an unsuccessful experience. From there, the book shows what adoption and foster care really look like in a variety of situations, from domestic and international adoptions to short-term foster care and foster-to-adopt arrangements. Also included is how churches and individuals can minister to refugees.

Adoption—peeling back the glossy exterior… Adoption impacts countless families worldwide, yet the voices of those directly involved—especially adoptees, the central focus of the process—are rarely highlighted. In The Adoption Paradox, nearly one hundred individuals are interviewed, from domestic, international, and transracial adoptions, as well as foster care, along with adoptive and birth parents, therapists, experts, and allies. These narratives reveal both the love and the emotional costs borne by everyone affected, exposing adoption as a complex and challenging experience. ...

Faces of Foster Care has heartfelt and frank messages from people around the country who have been involved in some way with foster care. Told like mini memoirs, their inspiring and sometimes heartbreaking stories bring us into their lives and show us unique perspectives of foster care in the United States.

In this honest and open account, Karla shares her journey of foster care, adoption, and a career that took her by surprise. As a mom of six amazing children, she has developed tried and true resources for families across the globe on trauma competent parenting. Here she brings her global and personal experience to the masses. Karla will inspire you and equip you with tools you need to be an agent of healing and advocate for your children NO MATTER WHAT!!If you are asking...Is Love Enough?What is trauma competency?How do I meet my child's complex needs?How can I be an agent of healing for my...

Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family. Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system - the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents.

Three-year-old Lainie kicks and screams as she tightly grips the leg of her older sister, pleading to stay with her family as she’s surrendered to the foster care system. Lainie, a year later, is reunited with her family, only to live another five tumultuous years hungry, neglected, and desperate for love and attention. Houseless again, Lainie’s mother breaks her promise of forever when she gives her away again, this time, in a motel parking lot, never to live with her or her family again.

Becoming a foster parent might be the most challenging, most rewarding, and most important calling, but nothing can truly prepare you for the reality of caring for God's most precious children. However, the good news is you're never alone. Based on her personal experience-from her own trauma-filled childhood to becoming a four-time foster mom-author Lisa Baptist offers inspiration, guidance, humor, and practical advice for those on the same journey with this faith-focused memoir/guide to foster parenting. Told in an easy-to-read, conversational style with helpful insight into the foster ...

Tragedy lands 14-year-old Allison in the foster care system, bouncing from home to home, trying to find a family that fits. Despite constantly changing homes and social workers, Allison is just FINE; everything is FINE.Life improves when Allison moves in with the Rosenbergs; 16 years old now, she's making friends and has a boyfriend, Anthony, whom she loves. Despite the Rosenbergs tough rules, Allison dares to be happy, dreaming of building her own family with Anthony after high school and finally having what she longs for. Life is honestly, actually FINE.But a set of tragedies destroy ...

Hailey Williams is looking for a forever family for herself and her six-year-old brother Dylan. It's been three years since their parents were killed in a freak car accident; three years of foster homes and broken promises. Hailey has just about given up hope - she's sure with her and Dylan's health issues no one will ever want to adopt them. The Marcottes are looking for their forever family too - and they want Hailey and Dylan to be it. Dylan settles into the new family unit quickly and comfortably, but Hailey is struggling - she doesn't know if she can trust the Marcottes - the adoption ...

Join Drew and his dragon, Diggory Doo, in this uplifting story about what it means to be a foster child and the many issues, questions, and feelings foster children have that are directly or indirectly affected by foster care.

Evie and Elliot are scrawny, filthy, and wide-eyed with fear when they turn up on foster carer Maggie Hartley's doorstep. Aged just two and three years old, this brother and sister have hardly set foot outside their own home. They have been prisoners, locked in a terrifying world of abuse, violence, and neglect. Maggie soon realizes that Evie and Elliot are lacking the basic life skills we all take for granted. The outside world terrifies them; the sound of the doorbell sends them into a panic that takes hours to abate.

The American child welfare system is bent toward protecting adults, not children. Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where kids can thrive?

With the compassion and insight of a fellow foster parent, Jamie C. Finn helps you see your struggles through the lens of the gospel, bringing biblical truths to bear on your unique everyday realities. In these short, accessible chapters, you'll find honest, personal stories and practical lessons that provide encouragement and direction from God's word as you walk the journey of foster parenting.