April 2012Vol. 13, No. 3Trauma Guide for Resource Parents
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network published Birth Parents With Trauma Histories and the Child Welfare System: A Guide for Resource Parents. This short factsheet describes how trauma experienced by birth parents can affect children's lives and how resource parents (foster, adoptive, or kinship) can support both the birth parent and the entire family.
The guide is broken into three sections:
- What resource parents should know about the effects of trauma on birth parents
- How resource parents can work together with birth parents
- How resource parents can protect themselves from secondary traumatic stress
Each section includes a list of bulleted tips. This factsheet's conversational tone makes the information accessible and easy to understand, especially for resource parents who may not have any formal child welfare training.
Birth Parents With Trauma Histories and the Child Welfare System: A Guide for Resource Parents is available on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network website:
http://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/birth_parents_trauma_resource_parent_final.pdf (308 KB)
This factsheet is part of a series of factsheets about parent trauma in the child welfare system. The series includes guides for child welfare staff, birth parents, and judges and attorneys and are available on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network website:
http://www.nctsnet.org/resources/topics/child-welfare-system