The following book review was provided by MARE staff member Jennifer Adler. This book is available for loan from the MARE Resource Library.

The Healing Power of the Family: An Illustrated Overview of Life with the Disturbed Foster or Adopted Child by Robert J. Delaney, Ph.D and illustrated by Terry McNerney offers a nontechincal and easy to read approach to Delaney’s numerous workshops for families and professionals that are dealing and working with foster/ adopted children.

There are five easy-to-read chapters filled with useful information for both families and professionals.

Chapter One discusses the staggering statistics in child welfare, including the increase in foster care placements vs. the decreasing number of people willing to care for these youth. Delaney uses the term “Overworked Stork” to describe the child welfare system. He raises thoughtful questions regarding the child welfare system and what it really does for children and families in need. Delaney goes on to say that children entering the system in the past few years have been increasingly troubled and traumatized; not only by their abusers, but by the very system that is set up to protect them.

In Chapter Two, Delaney explains the most common behavioral and emotional problems observed in children who have been maltreated in their birth homes and tells how they take and carry these behaviors into their foster and adoptive homes. Delaney outlines nineteen of the most common behaviors seen in foster/adoptive children: from cruelty to animals to sexualized behavior, to low self-esteem and depression. McNerney’s comedic illustrations help to provide a sense of humor to these harsh topics.

Chapter Three describes the troubled foster/adopted child’s impact on their new families and outlines the stresses and strains that a foster/adoptive family may go through after bring a troubled child into their home. Delaney uses real life anecdotes and stories from foster/adoptive parents to make the point that life will change for better and for worse with the addition of a child into a family. He specifically addresses the role of the new foster/adoptive mother and explains how many children in the child welfare system will use this new mother figure to work through the anger and frustration regarding the treatment they received in their birth home. Delaney provides coping strategies to help foster/adoptive parents dealing with these life changes.

In Chapter Four Delaney provides ten examples of family-based intervention that has helped families with troubled children. Delaney has given these unconventional strategies to millions of people across North America in his popular workshops. He outlines strategies to: curb the child’s acting out behaviors, increase the use of communication with the child regarding their feelings, improve the child’s ability and willingness to negotiate with the caregiver, and finally, to promote positive encounters with his/her foster or adoptive parents. Again, McNerney’s illustrations underscore these issues with a light-hearted touch.

Finally, Chapter Five addresses four special issues related to foster/adoptive children. Delaney outlines what makes these children different to raise than other children. He also discusses the phenomenon of idealization and devaluation of the parental figure, and how these children will always search for their biological roots. Delaney identifies the common “triggers,” which set off these “loss-sensitive” children, and finally he discusses the concept of resiliency or invulerbility in troubled children.

Dr. Delaney has written a book that is full of useful and easy to understand information regarding the children with whom foster/adoptive families and professionals work with and for on a daily basis. Terry McNerney’s illustrations help give the book a lighter, more approachable tone versus a book filled with strategies and statistics regarding the child welfare system. This book would benefit foster/adoptive families, professionals, and older foster/adoptive children as well.