The following is a list of recommended readings. We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding the materials on the list. Check the list often, as it is added to frequently!
Diversity and First Nations Issues in Canada, By Darion Boyington, John Roberts, and Shahé Kazarian, (2008) supports college and university courses that combine elements of diversity issues in law enforcement and First Nations issues into a streamlined, one-semester course.
Adopted and Wondering: Drawing Out Feelings. By Marge Heegaard, (February 25, 2007) This art therapy book helps children cope with the emotional impact of adoption. Children can use this book's interactive exercises to realize that their birth parents were good people who loved them but were unable to give them a good home; understand that they were placed, rather than abandoned; and develop a strong sense of personal identity. The interactive drawing exercises help children explain in pictures what they are unable to say in words.
Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening: a Professional Guide for Evaluations.
By James Dickerson & Mardi Allen (Oct 2006) Adoptive and Foster Parenting meshes the best of psychology and social work experience into a definitive guide for screening adoption and foster home applicants. Screening applicants for adoption or foster homes has life-altering consequences for the children involved, yet there are incredibly few programs available to train screeners. The educational system that certifies thousands of social workers each year does not understand the specialized training required to screen adoptive and foster parents; social work schools provide minimal interview training and what training they do provide focuses on therapeutic interview techniques rather than screening skills. There is a clear need for a book like Tough Choices, one that can be incorporated into course requirements and used by working social workers and psychologists involved with adoption and foster parent screening.
The Screener, written by a former social worker, who has placed hundreds of children into adoptive and foster homes, and a clinical psychologist, will mesh the best of psychology and social work experience into a definitive guide for screening adoption and foster home applicants. The book will provide information on:
· Evaluating aberrant behavior and unhealthy parenting attitudes
· Interview techniques
· Psychological testing
http://www.clinicalpsychologyarena.com/adoptive-and-foster-parent-screening-9780415952682
Achieving Best Behavior for Children with Developmental Disabilities
By Pamela Lewis. 2006. Designed for anyone who is caring for a child with developmental disabilities, this step-by-step workbook offers practical advice for addressing and improving challenging behaviors. The book also contains interactive checklists and activities parents can use to assess behaviours and track a child’s development. To order, contact Jessica Kingsley Publishers at post@jkp.com or www.jkp.com
Life Story Work: What It Is and What It Means
By Shaila Shah and Hedi Argent. 2006. Billed as a "guide for children and young people,” this colourful, user-friendly book is designed to help workers and caregivers introduce children to life story work and the idea that every child’s story is important. The book also suggests imaginative and multi-media techniques for recording a child’s life story. To order, contact the British Association for Adoption and Fostering at pub.sales@baaforg.uk or www.baaf.org.uk
Nutmeg Gets into Trouble
By Judith Foxon. 2006. Nutmeg, a small red squirrel who was adopted, is enjoying school until Dill, a squirrel living with a foster family, arrives. Nutmeg ends up fighting Dill when he threatens Nutmeg’s friends – action that makes Nutmeg wonder if he’s growing up to be like his cross birth dad. Angry, worried, and confused, Nutmeg finally resolves his concerns with help from his parents, teachers, and schoolmates. Ages 4 to 10. To order, contact the British Association for Adoption and Fostering at pubs.sales@baaf.org.uk or www.baaf.org.uk
Canadian Council on Learning
www.ccl-cca.ca
To support lifelong learning in Canada they operate five knowledge centres in five regions across Canada that focus on critical learning themes: Aboriginal Learning, Adult Learning, Early Childhood Learning, Health and Learning, and Work and Learning.
Community Toolbox
http://http://ctb.ku.edu/abo/
The Tool Box provides over 6,000 pages of practical information to support your work in promoting community health and development. This web site is created and maintained by the Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas (U.S.A). Developed in collaboration with AHEC/Community Partners in Amherst, Massachusetts, the site has been online since 1995, and it continues to grow on a weekly basis.
The core of the Tool Box is the "topic sections” that include practical guidance for the different tasks necessary to promote community health and development. For instance, there are sections on leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, grant writing, and evaluation to give just a few examples. Each section includes a description of the task, advantages of doing it, step-by-step guidelines, examples, checklists of points to review, and training materials.
Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health www.pimatisiwin.com/
The Role of Emergency Care as a Child Welfare Service
By Madelyn Freundlich and Emily Joyce Oates. 2006. This report examines three types of emergency care placements (emergency shelters, emergency family foster care, and receiving centres) and how communities use these resources. The book also offers guiding principles and recommendations for improving the quality of placements for children and youth in foster care. To order, call 800- 407-6273 or 770-280-4164, write to order@cwla.org, or visit http://www.cwla.org/
Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare
http://www.cecw-cepb.ca/
The Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare encourages collaborative projects that integrate child maltreatment prevention
and interventions across a variety of sectors, including health care, education, justice
and recreation.
Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of BC
www.afoabc.org
The Aboriginal Financial Officers of BC AFOABC) was established to represent the interests of those that work in the area of First Nation financial management and administration. Their mission statement is "to provide a united organization to represent Financial Officers, providing for the advancement of education, and the sharing of knowledge and information to assist our members in ensuring their communities sound financial management.”
HR Council for the Voluntary/Non Profit Sector
www.hrvs-rhsbc.ca
The HR Council is an independent non-profit organization that provides leadership on issues related to paid employment in the voluntary/non-profit sector. It brings sector employers and employees together to work collaboratively on research, strategies and action.
Some articles available from http://humanresources.about.com:
Twelve Tips for Team Building: How to Build Successful Work Teams http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/twelve_tip_team.htm
Nine Recruiting and Selection Tips to Ensure Successful Hiring http://humanresources.about.com/od/selectemployees/a/staff_selection.htm
Managing and Solving Workplace Negativity http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/negativity.htm
Goretzen, April, et al (2003). Kith and Kin Care: A Review of the Literature
Berrick, Jill Duerr (1997). Assessing quality of care in kinship and foster family care. Family Relations, 46 (3), 273-285.
Child Welfare. (1996) Special Issue: Kinship Care, Child Welfare 75 (5).
Ernst, Joy. (2001). Culture and child welfare: Insights from New Zealand. International Social Work. 44 (2) 163-178.
Gleeson, P. James. (1996). Kinship Care as a Child Welfare Service: The Policy Debate in an Era of Welfare Reform. Child Welfare, 76 (5), 419-450.
Gleeson, P., O’Doneell., & Bonecutter, J. Faith. (1997). Understanding the Complexity of Practice in Kinship Foster Care. Child Welfare 76 (6),801-826.
Greeff, Roger (1999). Conclusion-Clear Policy and Good Practice in Kinship Foster Care. In R. Greeff & J. Campling (Eds). Fostering kinship: an International Perspective on kinship care (pp. 85-97), Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Grogan-Kaylor, A (2000). Who goes into kinship care? The relationship of child and family characteristics to placement into kinship foster care. Social Work Research, 24 (3), 132-142
Hornby, H., Zeller, D., & Karraker, David., (1996). Kinship Care in America: What outcomes should policy seek? Welfare, 75 (5),
Ingram, Charlene. (1996). Kinship Care: From Last Resort to First Choice. Child Welfare, 75 (5), 550-566.
Wilhelmus, Maria. (1998). Mediation in kinship care: Another step in the provision of culturally relevant child welfare. Social Work, 43 (2), p117-127.
Tatum, B. D. (2000). The complexity of identity: "Who am I?.” In Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Hackman, H. W., Zuniga, X., Peters, M. L. (Eds.), Readings for diversity and social justice: An anthology on racism, sexism, anti-semitism, heterosexism, classism and ableism (pp. 9-14). New York: Routledge.
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