Filled with personal stories and Scripture, Faith & Foster Care shows how to practically and specifically live out your faith in foster care ministry. An encouraging resource for novice or experienced advocates and parents, specific issues addressed include advice on marriage and foster care, how to love the foster child and birth family, how to pray for your foster child and birth family, and how to let go when they leave. See how your actions have a far-reaching impact when you live out your faith.

Faith to Foster is a candid look into the life of ordinary foster parents TJ and Jenn Menn. It is a journey chronicling their decision making process, how the children arrived, the birth parents struggle to rehabilitate, help from friends and family, emotional goodbyes, and how faith in Jesus empowered them through it all. This is a story they wished they’d read before starting their foster parenting adventure. TJ and Jenn share their experiences and feelings in a way that encourages any reader to serve their neighbors, not just foster parents. Faith to Foster reminds Christians how God can use them to make a difference in their community.

Anna Chandler, born Anna Louise Higginbotham, is a native Marylander and mother of six, including a set of triplet boys. She lived, worked, and raised her family before opening a family day care in 1985, which began her journey in education. Anna moved to Oregon in 1997, and even though her children are now grown with their own families, she continues in the education field as an administrative assistant in a public school system, but Anna's true love and hobby is singing. In 1991, Anna began journaling what she could remember of her childhood in foster care. She wrote and continued to write everything she could remember for years. One day, Anna awakened to a voice telling her to complete the manuscript, and she knew that it was the voice of the Holy Spirit. In her heart, she knew that it was time to share her story and that if God brought her to it, he would bring her through it. Anna searched the web and found Christian Faith Publishing and decided to contact them to see if her book would be good enough to make the mark. To her surprise, the manuscript was approved for publishing, and the rest is history. The work itself has taken Anna to another level in God, and she knows that this is just the beginning. From Foster Care to Faith will be a spiritually encouraging addition to your home library, and I hope you enjoy it. All glory to God!

Tested Faith describes the many obstacles and jubilation experienced by Rita in her journey from Nigeria to United States. In a gripping display of humor and grace, Rita takes us into her childhood in Nigeria, her journey to God’s own country and trials and triumphs. Rita’s faith has been under fire too many times to count and has built in her a strong resilience that can only come from God. She also examines the similarities as well as cultural clashes that have influenced her life in many different ways. Each one of us has something to contribute to life. Regardless of how much we have been beaten down, we can still help others. It is very fulfilling for me to realize that the tragedies in my life have empowered me to make a difference in my life and other people’s lives. We all have a purpose in this life. One’s purpose is unique to that individual alone. Our blessings are equally unique and are ours to grab. I cannot grab your blessings no matter how hard I try; neither can you grab mine. If I live this life without knowing what my purpose is, my purpose will vanquish at the end of my life and cannot be inherited by another person. My purpose is not for my good alone; rather, it is for humanity and to the glory of God. God never takes us anywhere that his grace does not abound for our guidance and protection. This we learn from biblical principles typified in the Bible’s many narratives. Yet in difficult times, we sometimes—perhaps often—ask ourselves: “Will God ever lead us to a place where he cannot protect us? Is anything difficult for God? Should we expect a life without temptation?” These questions undergird my story even if not always explicitly stated in the narrative that has given me great insight and joyous recollection.

New or experienced foster parents as well as grandparents and other relatives caring for a child forced from home by a crisis will find help and hope in Practical Tools for Foster Parents.More than half a million children today live in out-of-home care, and many have special problems. The need for well-trained, loving foster parents has never been greater. In this book, Boys Town® offers these committed foster parents the professional tools they need, not only to care for foster children but to actually help them get better.Our approach to foster care focuses on building relationships with children, teaching them skills, and empowering them by teaching self-discipline and self-control. Inside, foster parents will find effective, research-based solutions for these common concerns:•Building a warm, trusting relationship with a foster child who still may have a strong attachment to his or her original family.•Working with the foster child's parents, who may be uncooperative or even hostile.•Creating a safe environment for your foster child, you, and your family.•Respecting your foster child's ethnic and cultural background, while teaching the child skills to help him or her succeed in the larger world.•Learning how to handle "blow ups" and prevent and correct misbehavior while you stay calm.•Teaching your foster child how to stay under control, solve problems, and make good decisions, even when he or she is angry or frustrated.•Handling transitions when a foster child moves to another placement or returns home.

America's foster care system has a noble goal—to care for children that for various reasons can no longer be cared for by their families—but years of inattention and inadequate funding have left many foster youth in a precarious state. This resource provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the American foster care system. Areas of coverage include the scaffolding of foster care systems in the various states (each of which operate their own unique systems through their social service agencies); conditions under which children are taken out of their families of origin and placed in foster care; the experiences of both young children and older teens in foster homes; challenges for foster children who "age out" of the system; and proposals to reform and improve foster care across the nation. Geared for students, this book contains chapters devoted to the background and history of foster care in America; the systems's problems, controversies, and solutions; original essay contributions exploring various facets of the system; profiles of leading foster care activists and organizations; governmental data and excerpts of primary documents on the topic; and an annotated list of important books, scholarly journals, and nonprint sources for further research. It closes with a detailed chronology, glossary of terms, and subject index.