Recruitment News
September/October, 2003
MARE Library - Resource Review
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.
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