Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens

Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens
by Betsy Krebs, Paul Pitcoff

Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens
List Price: $23.95
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Buy Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens at Amazon.com
(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Betsy Krebs, Paul Pitcoff
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-07-20
ISBN: 0813538289
Number of pages: 264
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Product features:

Book Reviews of Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens

Book Review: Author of RETURNABLE GIRL
Summary: 4 Stars

Oh yes, the system is broken. We need to be creative with how we fix it.
Foster teens are among the most vulnerable of our population. We all need to advocate for them, even as they learn how to advocate for themselves. Thumbs up for anyone who can offer viable solutions and ways around the "system." There are still plenty of teens who are adopted, however, and who benefit from a "forever family." For those who aren't this book offers hope.
Pamela Lowell, MSW, LICSW, BCD
Author of Returnable Girl about a teen in foster care and her journey to adoption.

Summary of Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens

"Beyond the Foster Care System is a powerful tool to help youths in foster care move to fully engaged lives in our society. Through the stories of wonderful young people we learn how to build on their strengths, abilities, and ambition to help them succeed."
-Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder, Children's Defense Fund

"Here is a lively, knowing, socially alert scholarship - a way for us to understand what our country's youth need, want, and desperately ought to have: the interested, compassionate attention of their fellow citizens."
-Dr. Robert Coles, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

"This book offers brilliant insights into helping disadvantaged teenagers turn their lives around. It is gripping to read, offering very engaging stories of young people struggling to find a place in the adult world."
-Francine Cournos, professor of clinical psychiatry, Columbia University

"Every reader will be touched by this book; no one can turn away from the power of the real people who live in it. And while there is not yet a happy ending to the tragic aspects of the foster care system, the good news Krebs and Pitcoff deliver, in their clear, wonderfully readable book, is that there is hope."
-Earl Shorris, author of Riches for the Poor

Each year tens of thousands of teenagers are released from the foster care system in the United States without high school degrees or strong family relationships. Two to four years after discharge, half of these young people still do not have either a high school diploma or equivalency degree, and fewer than ten percent enter college. Nearly a third end up on public assistance within fifteen months, and eventually more than a third will be arrested or convicted of a crime.

In this richly detailed and often surprising exploration of the foster care system, Betsy Krebs and Paul Pitcoff argue that the existing structure sets kids up to fail by inadequately preparing them for adult life. Foster care programs traditionally emphasize goals of reuniting children with family or placing children into adoptive homes. But neither of these outcomes is likely for adolescents. Krebs and Pitcoff contend that the primary goal of foster care for teenagers should be rigorous preparation for a fully productive adult life and that the standard life skills curriculum is woefully inadequate for this purpose.

The authors, who together cofounded the Youth Advocacy Center in New York City, draw on their fifteen years of experience working with teens and the foster care system to introduce new ways to teach teens to be responsible for themselves and to identify and develop their potential. They also explore what sorts of resources-legal, financial, and human-will need to come from inside and outside the system to more fully humanize the practice of foster care. Ultimately, Krebs and Pitcoff argue that change must involve the participation of caring communities of volunteers who want to see disadvantaged youth succeed as well as developing methods to empower teens to take control of their lives.

Bringing together a series of inspiring, real-life accounts, Beyond the Foster Care System introduces readers to a number of dynamic young people who have participated in the Youth Advocacy Center's programs and who have gone on to apply these lessons to other areas of life. Their stories demonstrate that more successful alternatives to the standard way of providing foster care are not only imaginable, but possible. With the practical improvements Krebs and Pitcoff outline, teens can learn the skills of effective self-advocacy, become better prepared for the transition to full independence, and avoid becoming the statistics that foster care has so often produced in the past.

Relationships Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Valuable info for Guardians ad Litem, foster parents, and CASAs
The Sexualized Child in Foster Care: A Guide for Foster Parents and Other Professionals ImageThe Sexualized Child in Foster Care: A Guide for Foster Parents and Other Professionals
by Sally G. Hoyle
CWLA Press (Child Welfare League of America); Published: 2000-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.43
Beyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens ImageBeyond The Foster Care System: The Future for Teens
by Betsy Krebs, Paul Pitcoff
Rutgers University Press; Published: 2006-07-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.16
Price in other shops: $23.95
The Star: A Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care ImageThe Star: A Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care
by Cynthia Miller Lovell
Spartan Graphics; Published: 2005-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Helping Your Child Recover from Sexual Abuse ImageHelping Your Child Recover from Sexual Abuse
by Caren Adams
University of Toronto Press; Published: 1992-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family ImageThe Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family
by Dave Pelzer
HCI; Published: 1997-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $12.95
Raising Adopted Children, Revised Edition: Practical Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent ImageRaising Adopted Children, Revised Edition: Practical Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent
by Lois Ruskai Melina
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 1998-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.76
Price in other shops: $13.95
Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents ImageAttaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents
by Deborah D. Gray
Perspectives Press (IN); Published: 2002-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.94
Price in other shops: $24.95
Parenting the Hurt Child : Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow ImageParenting the Hurt Child : Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow
by Gregory Keck, Regina M. Kupecky
NavPress; Published: 2002-03-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.39
Price in other shops: $22.99
Adopting the Older Child ImageAdopting the Older Child
by Claudia L. Jewett
Harvard Common Press; Published: 1979-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.77
Similar Books and other products
Another Place at the Table ImageAnother Place at the Table
by Kathy Harrison
Tarcher; Published: 2004-05-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops: $12.95
An Unlit Path ImageAn Unlit Path
by Deborah, L Hannah
Xulon Press; Published: 2006-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.20
Price in other shops: $16.99
ABC News Primetime Foster Care: Calling All Angels ImageABC News Primetime Foster Care: Calling All Angels
Release date: 2007-05-14; DVD
Best price: $19.95
The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care ImageThe Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care
by Nina Bernstein
Vintage; Published: 2002-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.42
Price in other shops: $15.95
Assessing the Long Term Effects of Foster Care: A Research Synthesis ImageAssessing the Long Term Effects of Foster Care: A Research Synthesis
by Reva I. Allen, Alex Westerfelt, Irving Piliavin
CWLA Press (Child Welfare League of America); Published: 1997-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.76
Orphans of the Living: Stories of America's Children in Foster Care ImageOrphans of the Living: Stories of America's Children in Foster Care
by Jennifer Toth
Touchstone Press; Published: 1998-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $19.95
The Foster Care Crisis: Translating Research into Policy and Practice (Child, Youth, and Family Services) ImageThe Foster Care Crisis: Translating Research into Policy and Practice (Child, Youth, and Family Services)
University of Nebraska Press; Published: 1999-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.40
Price in other shops: $22.00
Aging Out ImageAging Out
NEW VIDEO GROUP; Release date: 2006-06-27; DVD
Best price: $16.44
Price in other shops: $26.95
The Heart Knows Something Different: Teenage Voices from the Foster Care System : Youth Communication ImageThe Heart Knows Something Different: Teenage Voices from the Foster Care System : Youth Communication
Persea Books; Published: 1996-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System ImageOn Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System
by Martha Shirk
Basic Books; Published: 2006-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.56
Price in other shops: $16.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories