Foster Parenting Essentials

My wife and I have been in direct child care longer than anyone we know. Over the years, we have heard all types of comments from our families and acquaintances. The comments range from "You're kidding?"to "You must be crazy!" But the one we have heard the most often is, "You and your wife must be wonderful people to do what you do. I could never do that. I don't know how you do it!" My standard answer is an emphatic "I don't know how we do it either!" I pondered this for along time before it dawned upon me that very few people have any idea what our lives are like, much less"how we do it". Many children are in foster care across our nation. If few people know "how we do it", then who is training the caregivers and with what? There are hundreds of books on therapeutic psychology. There is little in print about surviving the day to day battle and struggle of raising emotionally damaged children while maintaining your sanity, keeping all safe, and teaching positive values. This book was written from experience to provide useful strategies and answers to deal with problems and topics of interest to child care providers. My wife and I have many positive and pleasant memories; however, most questions asked concern problems and their solutions. For that reason, this book was written mostly from that angle. We wish this information had been available to us in print years ago.