Help for Adoptive Families Whose Children Had a Rough Early Life

Adoption Learning Partners is offering four new online courses to prepare parents to raise children who arrive with difficult early experiences. The "Tough Starts Matter Series" covers topics that are timely and meaningful not only for pre-adopters—including brain development, treatment, parenting, and families—but also for families who are already in the thick of it, and are looking to help their children gain new skills.

The Tough Starts Series equips adoptive parents with insight into how their child's tough start in life may lead to troubling behavior years later.  Importantly, it also helps parents learn what they can do now to intercede, helping their child to heal and their family to thrive

Experts like Karyn Purvis, Ph.D., and Judy Stigger, LCSW, weigh in via short videos. The package includes four online courses totaling five hours. Buy the package for $60 at adoptionlearningpartners.org (a 29-percent discount from the list price per course).

Hurt children, of all ages and with all sorts of challenges, benefit when their parents (and professionals) receive extra support and preparation to transition them into a family. If your family is facing this situation, don't hesitate to sign up.

Jedd Medefind's (the President of Christian Alliance for Orphans), Top 5 Books on Orphan Care

This article is from July's Christianity Today, focusing on adoption and orphan care.

1.  Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches
     by Russell D. Moore (Crossway)
With deep theological moorings, Moore builds an inspiring case for why adoption carries special priority for Christians. Even readers who don't agree with Moore on all points will find it difficult to escape the power of his conviction that God's adoption of all believers is the wellspring for Christian action to "defend the cause of the fatherless."

2.  The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family
      by Karyn Purvis, David Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine (McGraw-Hill)
Built on research and medical expertise, this accessible book provides both compassionate insight and concrete practices that any parent can apply to nurture and connect fully with children coming from difficult backgrounds. Purvis's new study guide and other resources are also invaluable.

3.  There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children
      by Melissa Fay Greene (Bloomsbury)
Greene opens unforgettable windows into the plight of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS with the true story of one Ethiopian widow and the children she took in. Her well-crafted account is both haunting and hopeful, exposing both aching need and the complexity of responding wisely, alongside the beauty found when we do.

4.  Fields of the Fatherless: Discover the Joy of Compassionate Living
     by Tom Davis (David C. Cook)
Weaving together Scripture and compelling narrative, Davis paints a simple yet powerful picture of what it looks like when Christians come to share God's passion for orphans. Fields of the Fatherless offers not only inspiration and provocation, but also practical steps for action.

5.  The One Factor: How One Changes Everything
      by Doug Sauder (4Kids of South Florida)
Focusing on real stories of children from foster care, this slim volume delivers its punch with dozens of poignant reminders why the number one matters more than all the statistics in the world. Sauder helps us turn the tired adage that "one person can make a big difference" into a vibrant, vivifying confidence.