Parent Resources

Do Your Homework!

Adopting a teen from the child welfare system is a huge (and rewarding!) journey. As you think and talk about this next stage of family life, you may want to explore resources that will answer questions and help you prepare.

Books:

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem (2017)
A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, Sun Yung Shin (2016)
Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, and Sun Yung Shin (2006)
The Handbook of Adoption, Amanda Baden (2006)
Somebody’s Children: The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoptions, Laura Briggs (2012)
Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare, Dorothy Roberts (2002)
See No Color, Shannon Gibney (2015)
What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey (2021)
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk (2014)
Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, Daniel Siegel (2012)
To the End of June, Beam (2013)
Reclaiming Youth at Risk, Brendtro, et al (1990)
Love Me, Feed Me, Rowell (2012)
Connecting with Kids through Stories, Lacher, et al (2005)
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, MacIntosh
Why do they act that way?, Walsh (2004)
Born for Love, Szalavitz & Perry (2010)
On Their Own, Shirk & Strangler (2004)
Parenting Adopted Adolescent, Keck
Three Little Words, Rhodes-Courter (2008)
Orphans of the Living, Toth (1997)
Ellen Foster, Gibbons (1987)
Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control, Forbes & Post (2009)

Podcasts:

Note, we don’t necessarily agree with everything that is presented on the podcasts, but we really hope that people will immerse themselves in thinking about the various key issues.