Abstract

Helping Foster Children In School explores the challenges that foster children face in schools and offers positive and practical guidance tailored to help the parents, teachers and social workers supporting them.

Children in care often perform poorly at school both in terms of their behavior and their academic performance, with many failing to complete their education. They will have often experienced trauma or neglect which can result in a number of developmental delays. By looking at why children in foster care do not perform as well as their counterparts, John DeGarmo, who has fostered more than 40 children, provides easy-to-use strategies to target the problems commonly faced. He emphasizes the importance of an open dialogue between teacher, parent and social worker, to ensure that everyone is working jointly to achieve the best outcome for the child.

An invaluable resource for foster parents, social workers and educators alike, this book encourages a unified response to ensure foster children are given the best chance to succeed at school.

John DeGarmo is a proud foster and adoptive parent who has fostered over 40 children. He regularly speaks on his experiences at conferences and training sessions, and is dedicated to improving and promoting successful foster and adoptive care systems. He is the author of several books including Love and Mayhem: One Big Family's Uplifting Story of Fostering and Adoption and The Foster Parenting Manual: A Practical Guide to Creating a Loving, Safe and Stable Home, both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. John lives in Georgia, USA. You can find out more about him here: drjohndegarmofostercare.weebly.com.
True to Dr. DeGarmo's authorship, he has written a book that will greatly assist everyone involved in the education of children in foster care. This book includes impressive examples that go a long way in helping the reader become emotionally involved while learning how to best meet the needs of all parties serving children in foster care with their educational needs. This is an easy to read book that will help everyone who reads it.
Irene Clements, Executive Director of National Foster Parent Association (NFPA), USA

The latest book for John DeGarmo, Helping Foster Children in School, is a guide for helping foster parents, social workers, teachers and others as they seek to understand the challenges children in foster care face. The book provides a basic understanding of foster care and why children live in the foster care system. With statistics provided, the book highlights the large number of children entering or live in foster care each year. It also makes clear the enormous number of school children who are not only trying to learn every day, but are dealing with the challenges of living away from their biological families in foster care.

Helping Foster Children in School presents a number of challenges these children face from inconsistent school attendance during their early school years to multiple moves creating fractures in learning. The book identifies areas where children struggle and need support and gives ideas how the people in their lives can help.

Helping Foster Children in School is an important read for educators, social workers and foster parents alike since they all are responsible for helping a child heal and achieve educational success. Each chapter leads with stories shared by former foster youth, foster parents, educators and social workers. These personal pieces help drive home the important role each of these individuals play in a child's success. Because teachers often aren't familiar with foster care and its impact on children, it's difficult for them to understand what a child is going through and how to relate, let alone teach.

Helping Foster Children in School can fill in the learning gap for these teachers and provide them with a window into the world of a child. Educators need to understand the difficult experiences of children and how that impacts learning. Helping Foster Children in School is an educational tool that should be used by the people hoping to guide a child to achieve educational success.

Fostering Families Today

Dr. John DeGarmo's latest book is a must read for parents, educators, and other professionals who work with students who are in foster care. Dr. John provides unique insight into the educational world of foster children from both his personal and professional experiences in the field.
Classroom teachers and administrators will gain a much deeper level of understanding into the struggles that foster children face as they transition into our classrooms. Furthermore, Dr. John offers practical and useful strategies to assist educators and foster parents in making educational experiences more positive for the child during the time of difficult transition.

Mike Newton, Ed. D. Superintendent of Jasper County Schools, Georgia, USA