Approved Training Media and Books
Foster parents have the opportunity to complete elective training hours by reading approved books or watching approved movies or other visual media. A maximum of 3 credit hours per year (July to June) can be obtained by completing approved media. View the required training chart for more information.
Parents can receive 2 credit hours for each approved book and 1 credit hour for each approved video (no more than one credit hour per year will be awarded for approved videos).
Complete the Foster Parent Elective Training Documentation form to receive credit for completing approved media training.
| Type | Title | Author/Year |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Family Foster Care in the Next Century | Kathy Barbell, Lois Wright |
| Book | Hope’s Boy: A Memoir | Andrew Bridge |
| Book | Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self | David Brodzinsky |
| Book | They Cage Animals at Night | Jennings Michael Burch |
| Book | It’s My Life | Casey Family Programs |
| Book | Grandparents and Other Relative Caregivers Guide | Children’s Defense Fund |
| Book | Foster Parent Survival Manual | Ellen Cirino |
| Book | Do You Want to Be a Foster Parent? | Sharon Davis |
| Book | Grandparents as Parents: A Survival Guide for Raising a Second Family | Sylvia de Toledo and Deborah Edler Brown |
| Book | Raising Our Children’s Children | Deborah Doucette-Dudman |
| Book | Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew | Sherrie Eldridge |
| Book | The Middle Mom: How to Grow Your Heart by Giving It Away | Christie Erwin |
| Book | A Child’s Journey through Placement | Vera Fahlberg |
| Book | Finding Fish: A Memoir | Antwone Q. Fisher and Mim E. Rivas |
| Book | The Slave Across the Street | Theresa Flores |
| Book | Another Forgotten Child | Cathy Glass |
| Book | Damaged: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Lost Little Girl | Cathy Glass |
| Book | Fostering or Adopting the Troubled Child | Janet Glatz |
| Book | Another Place at the Table | Kathy Harrison |
| Book | To Grandma’s House We . . . Stay: When You Have to Stop Spoiling Your Grandchildren and Start Raising Them | Sally Houtman |
| Book | The Sexualized Child in Foster Care: A Guide for Foster Parents and Other Professionals | Sally G. Hoyle |
| Book | When Do I Go Home? Intervention Strategies for Foster Parents and Helping Professionals | Sally G. Hoyle |
| Book | Adopting the Older Child | Claudia Jewett-Jarratt |
| Book | Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss | Claudia Jewett-Jarratt |
| Book | Walk a Mile in My Shoes: A Book about Biological Parents for Foster Parents and Social Workers | Judith A. Lee and Danielle Nisivoccia |
| Book | Preparing Adolescents for Life After Foster Care: The Central Role of Foster Parents | Anthony N. Maluccio, Robin Kreiger, Barbara A. Pine |
| Book | A Guidebook to Raising Foster Children | Susan McNair Blatt, MD |
| Book | Uncertain Futures: Foster Youth in Transition to Adulthood | Edmund V. Mech |
| Book | Questions and Activities for the Star: A Handbook for Foster Parents | Cynthia Miller Lovell and Randall E. Haugen |
| Book | The Star: A Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care | Cynthia Miller Lovell |
| Book | The Complete Lifebook Workbook | Jim Mooney, MSW |
| Book | Positive Discipline A-Z: 1001 Solutions to Everyday Parenting Problems | Jane Nelsen Ed.D., Lynn Lott, H. Stephen Glenn |
| Book | Lifebooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child | Beth O’Malley |
| Book | PACT’s Multicultural Booksource | PACT Press |
| Book | Racial Identity Building and Pride Connection | PACT Press |
| Book | A Child Called It | Dave Pelzer |
| Book | A Man Named Dave | Dave Pelzer |
| Book | Help Yourself | Dave Pelzer |
| Book | The Lost Boy | Dave Pelzer |
| Book | The Privilege of Youth | Dave Pelzer |
| Book | A Brother’s Journey | Richard Pelzer |
| Book | A Teenager’s Journey | Richard Pelzer |
| Book | 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 | Thomas W. Phelan |
| Book | Beyond the Foster Care System: The Future of Teens | Betsy Krebs and Paul Pitcoff |
| Book | Practical Tools for Foster Parents | Lana Temple Plotz, Michael Sterba, Ted Stricklett |
| Book | The Connected Child | Dr. Karyn Purvis |
| Book | Three Little Words: A Memoir | Ashley Rhodes-Courter |
| Book | The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir | Victoria Rowell |
| Book | Fostering Hope: Living the Dream with My Name on It | Shane Salter |
| Book | Trouble Don’t Last Always: When a Child Becomes a 4 Year Old Parent | Shane Salter |
| Book | Neighborhood of the Heart: Fostering the Future of Children | Randolph W. Severson, PhD |
| Book | On Their Own: What Happens to Foster Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System | Martha Shirk |
| Book | Relatives Raising Children: A Guide to Finding Help and Hope | Marianne Takas |
| Book | Orphans of the Living: Stories of America’s Children in Foster Care | Jennifer Toth |
| Book | Breaking the Silence | Casey Watson |
| Book | Creative Corrections: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline | Lisa Whelchel |
| Book | Maybe Days: A Book for Children in Foster Care | Jennifer Wilgocki, Marcia Khan Wright, Alissa Imre Geis |
| Movie | ABC News Primetime: Foster Care: Calling All Angels | 2007 |
| Movie | POV: Tough Love (link) | 2015 |
| Movie | Aging Out | 2006 |
| Movie | America: A Lifetime Movie | 2009 |
| Movie | Angels in the Outfield | 1994 |
| Movie | Antwone Fisher | 2003 |
| Movie | Anne of Green Gables | 1985 |
| Movie | August Rush | 2007 |
| Movie | Baby Boom | 1987 |
| Movie | Black or White | 2014 |
| Movie | Coach Carter | 2005 |
| Movie | Cyberbully | 2011 |
| Movie | Father Hood | 1993 |
| Movie | Freedom Writers | 2007 |
| Movie | Gracie's Choice | 2004 |
| Movie | Gridiron Gang | 2006 |
| Movie | I Am Sam | 2002 |
| Movie | Juno | 2007 |
| Movie | Lilo & Stitch | 2002 |
| Movie | Lion | 2016 |
| Movie | Losing Isaiah | 2003 |
| Movie | Martian Child | 2008 |
| Movie | Meet the Robinsons | 2007 |
| Movie | My Flesh and Blood | 2004 |
| Movie | On Our Own | 2004 |
| Movie | One Incredible Foster Family: The Ferber Family Story | 2006 |
| Movie | Precious | 2009 |
| Movie | Problem Child | 1990 |
| Movie | Raising Arizona | 1987 |
| Movie | Remember the Titans | 2000 |
| Movie | Raising Helen | 2004 |
| Movie | Secondhand Lions | 2003 |
| Movie | A Simple Twist of Fate | 1994 |
| Movie | Stevie | 2008 |
| Movie | Stuart Little | 1999 |
| Movie | White Oleander | 2003 |
| Book | Parenting the Hurt Child: helping adoptive families heal and grow | Gregory Keck |
| Movie | The Great Gilly Hopkins | 2015 |
| Movie | Instant Family | 2018 |
| Movie | Foster (HBO Documentary) | 2019 |
| Movie | Inside Out | 2015 |
| Movie | Just Mercy | 2020 |
| Book | Justy Mercy | Bryan Stevenson |
| Book | The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook | Bruce Perry, Maia Szalavitz |
| Book | The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma | Bessel van der Kolk, MD |
| Book | Time to Come off the Porch: Journey of Healing from the Wounds of Kinship Care in the Black Family | Dr. Kimberley Hundley |
| Movie | Encanto | 2021 |
| Movie | Soul | 2020 |
| Book | No-Drama Discipline | Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. |
| Book | The Whole-Brain Child | Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. |