10 Helpful Resources for Families Impacted by Adoption or Foster Care

At Show Hope, you have probably heard us say, but it bears repeating: “The adoption journey does not end the day a child is welcomed home; in fact, in many ways, it is just beginning.” Children impacted by adoption and/or foster care often have experienced early attachment injuries related to loss, abuse, trauma, and/or neglect. While their needs can be unique and complex, you—as a parent or caregiver—are not alone on the journey. There is hope and help in the form of practical teaching and resources to better equip you and the community around you.

Hope for the Journey

Show Hope’s Hope for the Journey Conference (formerly the Empowered to Connect Conference) seeks to encourage and better equip parents and caregivers meeting the everyday needs of children impacted by adoption and/or foster care. The conference remains low-cost, high-impact as Show Hope also works to resource churches, agencies, and other organizations as they support and equip the families, caregivers, and the communities they serve. With the busy parent and caregiver in mind, the Hope for the Journey Conference is accessible to this audience with information being practical, succinct, and consumable in its delivery. Structurally, the Hope for the Journey Conference will include five high-level learning modules based on the foundational principles of Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) along with a fifth teaching component, The Gospel + TBRI. Embedded within each learning module will be a “Going Deeper” teaching video on a select topic, and also included will be one practical, encouraging “Practical Perspectives” videos featuring the voices of adult adoptees as well as adoptive and foster families.

The Connected Child 

Co-authored by Dr. Karyn Purvis, Dr. David Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine, “The Connected Child” has helped countless adoptive and foster parents better connect with their children as they seek to love and care for them in ways that honor God. This best-selling book will help you build bonds of attachment and trust with your child, effectively address learning or behavioral challenges, and correct your child with love without instilling fear and shame.

Created to Connect: A Christian’s Guide to The Connected Child 

“Created to Connect” was written by Dr. Karyn Purvis, along with Amy and Michael Monroe, to help illuminate the biblical principles that serve as the foundation for the philosophy and interventions detailed in “The Connected Child.” Ideal for use in small groups as well as by individuals or couples, this practical study guide is designed to help adoptive and foster parents better understand how to build strong, lasting, God-glorifying connections with their children. The guide can also be downloaded for free here!

The Connected Parent

With a foundation from renowned child-development expert Dr. Karyn Purvis, “The Connected Parent” gives you useful advice and powerful tools you can use to encourage secure attachment in your family. Co-author Lisa Qualls also demonstrates how you can successfully implement these strategies in your home, just as she did in hers.

Empowered to Connect 

Empowered to Connect (ETC) is an attachment rich community focused program that exists to support, resource, and educate caregivers. ETC’s resources, trainings, and podcast are especially helpful for parents and caregivers of children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, and maltreatment.

Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU (KPICD)

The KPICD has created and compiled a number of video resources that dive deep into the principles of TBRI. The Healing Families DVDs are especially helpful for those parenting children impacted by adoption and/or foster care. The Institute also provides several introductory videos free of charge on their website.

Trust-Based Caregiving

This convenient, pocket-sized guide to the basic principles of TBRI is an ideal reference for parents, caregivers, and professionals seeking to use TBRI to meet the needs of children and youth who have experienced a variety of adverse childhood experiences. Included are practical strategies for Empowering, Connecting, and Correcting through activities, reflective questions, and sample situations and responses.

Cindy Lee Nugget Videos 

These helpful, short videos from Cindy Lee—Executive Director of the HALO Project—contain practical tips about how to incorporate TBRI into your daily life. Topics include things like transition, sleep, lying, and attachment.

The Whole-Brain Child 

Written by Drs. Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, “The Whole-Brain Child” provides 12 strategies to promote healthy brain development and help integrate children’s right brain (emotional) and left brain (logic). The best-selling book also teaches parents how to connect with their children when emotions are high and then practice with their children a different, healthier way to process those difficult feelings.

Christian Alliance for Orphans 

The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites more than 190 respected organizations and 650 church members in its initiatives to inspire and equip Christians to live out effectively the Bible’s call to care for children who have been orphaned and/or are vulnerable. With resources for churches as well as adoptive and foster care parents, CAFO’s initiatives include the annual CAFO Summit, the Orphan Sunday campaign, the Global Movements Initiative, the National Foster Care Initiative, the Applied Research & Best Practice Initiative, the National Church Ministry Initiative, and an array of other shared undertakings.

For further insight, check out the following recommended resources: 

– Trauma-Informed Sensory Resources by Marti Smith

– The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

– Parenting From the Inside Out by Drs.Daniel J. Siegel and Mary Hartzell

– No-Drama Discipline by Drs. Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
 
– Anatomy of the Soul by Dr. Curt Thompson

– Parenting Is Your Highest Calling by Leslie Leyland Fields

– The Wounded Heart and Healing the Wounded Heart by Dr. Dan B. Allender

– Attachments: Why You Love, Feel, and Act the Way You Do by Drs. Tim Clinton and Gary Sibcy

– I Love You Rituals by Becky A. Bailey

– Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel

– Yes Day! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

– Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by Dr. JoAnn Deak