Foster Care Therapist Handbook : Relational Approaches to the Children and Their Families

by Lee, Robert E.

• ISBN13: 9781587600463
• ISBN10: 1587600463
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Child Welfare League of Amer

Summary

"Foster Care Therapist Handbook: Relational Approaches to the Children and Their Families focuses on the relational therapy approach, which considers the whole relational environment for each child and endeavors to get all parts of it to work together for the child's sake." "Each section in this guide is written by experts in the field. As a result, this volume draws on decades of experience and is expressed in plain terms and loaded with real-life examples. All facets of a therapist's workload are addressed, from infants needing developmental catch-up to teenagers benefiting from "hip-hop therapy" to burnt-out therapists requiring care themselves." "By viewing these therapeutic responsibilities through the lens of relational therapy, all aspects are placed into proportion, so they can be easily identified and worked out. The emphasis is on "What works with my case, right here, right now? What will help me help them?""--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
About the Authors	p. xi
The Culture and Environment of Foster Care
Introduction: The Culture and Environment of Foster Care	p. 1
An Ecosystemic Approach to Foster Care	p. 17
Cultural Issues: Diversity and Child Welfare	p. 47
The Perspective of the Consumer: Foster Children Tell Us What They Need	p. 63
Ambiguous Loss: A Key Component of Foster Care	p. 83
Family Therapy Approaches
The Case for Relational Therapy with Young Children in Foster Care	p. 105
Parent-Child Therapy for Traumatized Young Children in Foster Care	p. 123
Providing Developmentally Appropriate Family Therapy	p. 153
An Integrative Approach Involving the Biological and Foster Family Systems	p. 181
Kinship Placements: An Integrative Approach	p. 227
Creative Ways to Strengthen Family Bonds	p. 251
Intervening with Foster Infants' Foster Parents: Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up	p. 269
Supporting the Work of Foster Parents	p. 293
"It Isn't Right!" The Need to Redress Experiences of Injustice in Child Abuse and Neglect	p. 307
Important "Other" Issues
"I Want This Child Out of Here Now!" How to Deal with Sexualized Acting Out in the Foster Environment: A "SMART" Approach to Assessment and Treatment	p. 331
Combating a Family Culture of Violence	p. 363
"We're in It Together" Family Therapy Where Substance Abuse Is a Problem	p. 377
Teaching Developmentally Appropriate Parenting	p. 405
"Ready or Not, Here I Come!" Equipping Families for Transitions	p. 427
"But I Don't Trust You" Recognizing and Dealing with Parents' History of Trauma: The Story of Amy	p. 451
When the Helper Becomes Traumatized: Taking Care of You	p. 469
Index	p. 485
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