If you are considering foster parenting and looking for hope that you can hold in your hand, schedule some reading time. Those who have a heart for broken children-foster or needing adoption-- are often unsure as to how to help. Engaging children with trauma as their history while maintaining a healthy environment for your original family can be daunting. The effects of chaos, neglect and abuse leave a child in a tangled pit of despair. Added challenges like attachment disorder or sensory integration issues make it impossible for one child to go up three stairs, while other factors inspire another to run across the high-arching log over the creek before you can get your hands on him. These are the precious ones, the ones who need additional nurturing, lacking the healthy beginning they so deserved. The wonderful news is that, with love, faith, routine and intentional actions, their lives can be changed. The extraordinary news is that yours will be, too. In this book you will see different exercises used helping children with behavioral issues, anxiety, trauma, some on the autism spectrum, and those trapped in the past. You will gain ideas of how to work together with various professionals for the child's best future. This is a brief snapshot of one foster/adoptive family's journey through joy, pain, healing and laughter while deciphering each child's needs and gifts on the road to wholeness.
