American Foster Care Resources, Inc.
P. O. Box 271
King George, VA 22485
(703) 775-7410
$8.50 (p)
  

Description:

This 66-page book consists of four chapters, covering the trauma of abuse allegations, how child protection agencies respond to allegations, what foster home staff can do to protect themselves, and group treatment methods for foster parents when charged.  Each chapter is followed by a short bibliography.  The book is in very large print and easy to read.
  

Discussion:

This book is a welcome addition to the child abuse literature and can serve as a survival manual for the protection of foster parents from false abuse allegations.  Since child protection departments and foster home services sometimes work at cross purposes, this book is also a much needed resource for social services.  The last chapter on FAST (foster allegations support team) describes what may be the first agency group treatment service offered to foster parents facing allegations.  (For more on this issue see Schultz, 1990, Self-help Groups for the Erroneously Charged: A Proposed Model, Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 2(2), 109-115.)

This short book should be read by all future foster parents before they receive their first child.

Reviewed by LeRoy G. Schultz, Professor of Social Work, West Virginia University.