Thriving Families: A Trauma-Informed Guidebook for the Foster and Adoptive Journey

by Jenn Ranter Hook and Joshua N. Hook

A practical roadmap for foster and adoptive families

Caring for children is deeply important to the heart of God, and adoption and foster care are important callings that connect to God’s heart for children and families. But this road isn’t always easy. It’s important that foster and adoptive parents prepare to address their children’s history of trauma, separation, and disrupted placements, which can lead to mental health, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. It is also important to understand how this journey shapes and influences our children. We cannot ignore the deep feelings and questions that children experience as they try to understand their story. How can we help them navigate their identity, and sit with them in the unknowns of their story or the grief and loss that comes up?
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Drawing on the latest science and research on trauma, attachment, sensory processing difficulties, cultural competence, and grief and loss, authors Josh and Jenn Hook provide a trauma-informed approach to help adoptive and foster families—and the church called to care for the vulnerable in our midst—to help their children heal, grow, and thrive.