The following is a list of recommended readings. We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding the materials on the list.
General
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
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 www.cwla.org
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.
Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare
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.
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.
Think!
Think! is a free email journal for those interested in leading change, stimulating new thinking, and making a difference in their world of work. Think! tries to push the boundaries of contemporary leadership and management thinking and practice by offering a competing voice on issues of importance. Each edition of Think! contains a mix of pithy sayings and irreverent and thought-provoking (sometimes biting) commentary from some the world’s most insightful leadership and management thinkers, researchers and practitioners. If you would like to subscribe to Think!, please email think@xtendsolutions.com and put “subscribe” in the subject line.
Voluntary Sector Knowledge Network
www.vskn.ca
The Voluntary Sector Knowledge Network (VSKN) is a website designed to help leaders build the capacity of non-profit organizations. It should be of specific interest to smaller organizations, especially those that are volunteer led and those in rural and remote areas.
The following are some of the topics you’ll find on the site. Each of these has several sub-topics as well.
• Leadership, including board governance, strategic planning and interpersonal skills
• Community and Government Relations
• Fundraising
• Financial management
• Accountability and evaluation
• Managing people – staff and volunteers
• Using information technology
Finances
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.”
Human Resources
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.c/involvementteams/a/twelve_tip_team_p.htm
Nine Recruiting and Selection Tips to Ensure Successful Hiring http://humanresources.about.c/selectemployees/a/staff_selection_p.htm
Managing and Solving Workplace Negativity http://humanresources.about.c/workrelationships/a/negativity_p.htm
Resources For Kinship Care
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.