Recommended Resource: 7 Must-Read Books for Foster Parents

Check out these must-read books for anyone considering foster care or supporting a foster family!

1) The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family by Karn B. Purvis, David R. Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine

This is the book that started all things TBRI. This is a must read for all foster and adoptive families. Full of compassion, this book will help caregivers build trust, develop deeper connections, and teach their children new skills to ensure healthy relationships.

2) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors by Robyn Gobel

An easy to read book that explains the neuroscience behind challenging behaviors. Parenting expert Robyn Gobel helps caregivers understand what's going on inside their children's brains and bodies. She provides simple strategies to help caregivers connect with their child and overcome challenges. Bonus, Robyn also provides caregivers with the knowledge needed to regulate their brains as well.

3) The Connected Therapist: Relating Through the Senses by Marti Smith

A TBRI trained Occupational Therapist, Marti Smith shares how trauma-awareness transformed her work and allowed her to move from a focus on behavior to connection. Marti Smith explores how adverse experiences shape our preferences and sensory processing abilities and provides practical strategies to promote healing.

4) Foster the Family: Encouragement, Hope, and Practical Help for the Christian Foster Parent by Jamie C. Finn

With a combination of compassion, insight, and experience, Jamie Finn helps caregivers see the daily struggles of foster care and adoption through the lens of the gospel. Written in an easy and familiar style, Jamie offers practical lessons that provide encouragement and direction from God's word.

5) I Love You Rituals by Becky A. Bailey, Ph.D.

Full of practical activities and rituals that are easily incorporated into daily practice. These positive rhymes, songs, and games can be used with children from infancy on. In just a few minutes of time per day, these rituals have the ability to enhance children's attention, cooperation, and self-esteem, prime them for learning, and promote deeper connections with caregivers.

6) The A-Z of Therapeutic Parenting by Sarah Naish

This well organized, easy to navigate "encyclopedia" offers caregivers access to 60 common challenges faced when parenting a child with attachment difficulties or one who has experienced trauma. Sarah Naish provides practical advice on what might trigger challenging behaviors and how to respond.

7) Love Does Not Conquer All: and Other Surprising Lessons I Learned as a Foster Dad to More Than 40 Kids by Peter Mutabazi

A former street kid, Peter Mutabazi knows first-hand how it feels to grow up with love and stability. As an adult, Peter Mutabazi has offered a loving home to more than 40 kids. In this book, he shares the lessons he's learned along the way and the positive impact caregivers can have when they provide children with what they need.

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