Screening Adoptive and Foster Parents - Paperback

by James L. Dickerson (Author), Mardi Allen (Author)

Screening applicants for adoption or foster homes has life-altering consequences for the children involved, yet there are incredibly few programs available to train screeners. The educational system that certifies thousands of social workers each year does not understand the specialized training required to screen adoptive and foster parents; social work schools provide minimal interview training and what training they do provide focuses on therapeutic interview techniques rather than screening skills. There is a clear need for a book like Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening, one that can be incorporated into course requirements and used by working social workers and psychologists involved with adoption and foster parent screening.

Screening Adoptive and Foster Parents, written by a former private and public agency social worker, who has placed hundreds of children into adoptive and foster homes, and a psychologist, meshes the best of psychology and social work experience into a definitive guide for screening adoption and foster home applicants. The book provides information on:

- evaluating aberrant behavior and unhealthy parenting attitudes among applicants

- adoptive and foster parent issues

- interview techniques

- writing home studies

- screening for male child predators

- child development, the stages

- understanding the Foster Parent Syndrome

- psychological testing

Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening is based on case histories, research data, and interpretive analysis. The book is written in an accessible style free of technical language, thus making it appropriate for college-level students and professionals who don't have time to sift through empirical data to obtain accessible information that they can adapt to their profession.