Aging Out

Excellent documentary profiling three youth who have aged out of the foster care system. Outlines some of the successes, as well as heart-breaking failures to transition to independent living.

Challenging Behaviors in Young Children: Techniques and Solutions

Oriented toward giving preschool educators the ability to observe firsthand the techniques used by teachers, in a state of the art preschool and research facility, effectively managing children with challenging behaviors in an early childhood setting. Though many of the techniques are most germane to a child care setting, there is a lot of valuable interaction about how to interact with and talk to children.

Discipline: Teaching Limits With Love

Discipline is one of the most difficult challenges parents face. In this video, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Americas foremost pediatrician, shows parents that setting limits is not punishment, but a loving way to teach a child how to control his or her behavior. Excellent for first-time parents.

Eating Disorders

Children in foster care often have very serious issues around food. In Eating Disorders, Dr. Richard Delaney helps parents with the top five problems: stealing and hoarding food, gorging, refusing to eat certain foods, and anorexia-bulimia. This DVD shows parents how to identify and better understand these problems, and introduces some creative yet very practical solutions.

Fire-Setting

The biggest fear in foster care is fire-setting, yet foster parents receive little training or information about it. In Fire-Setting Dr. Richard Delaney discusses four types of fire-setting behavior in children: silent but deadly, impulsive, disturbed, and accidental or curious. Find out what these behaviors mean and see some unique and effective ways parents can respond, and when they should seek help.

Foster Parents Working with Birth Parents

Panel presentation with Dr. Fahlberg, pediatrician and expert in child welfare, on working with birth families to maintain relationships and mentor biological parents. The film focuses a bit on young children (preschool-age).

Lying

Lying is the single most common child behavior problem reported by foster parents. In this program parents learn to understand and deal with this frustrating problem by looking at four types of lying behavior: lying to save face, lying to gain attention, pathological lying, and lying to get others in trouble. Written and researched by Dr. Richard Delaney.

Parenting the Explosive Child

Learn how other parents have worked with children who "explode". Learn why traditional methods of behavior management may not be effective with these children.

Misunderstood Minds: Searching for Success at School

Narrative account of five families trying to understand the reasons a child was having great difficulty learning at school. Families discuss the struggle in proper diagnosis, and examine the difficult decisions they made about whether to use medication to assist in the learning process.

Re-education of foster and adopted children

Discussion by Dr. Vera Fahlberg, pediatrician and expert in child welfare on how to overcome a child's resistance to change and provide personal and social relearning experiences.

Running Away

Each year 800,000 children between the ages of 10 and 18 run away from home and are reported missing; one half million go unreported. Some children are gone for only a short time; others never return. Running Away presents the scenarios of five families dealing with the very different types of runaway behavior. Dr. Richard Delaney discusses the reasons why kids run away. He also works with the families on how to promote more positive behavior, and provides steps they can take when faced by these serious issues.

Self-Harm

Understandably, foster and adoptive parents may feel disturbed when a child engages in self-harm by carving on or recklessly injuring the body, hair pulling, engaging in risky behavior, or threatening suicide. In Self-Harm, five families whose children obsess about and participate in these types of self-harm discuss their concerns. Dr. Richard Delaney, author, speaker and practicing psychologist, offer, valuable insight into these behaviors and shares strategies with parents to help them more effectively deal with their children who self-harm.

Separation and Loss Issues for Foster and Birth Families

View this discussion by Dr. Vera Fahlberg, pediatrician and expert in child welfare, who also includes foster families and youth and adults who were in foster care. Learn about children's experiences with separation issues, and how their foster parents helped them through those issues. Dr. Fahlberg also discusses the impact on the foster parents and their children as well.

Sexualized Behavior

Dr. Richard Delaney addresses four types of sexualized behavior in children: obsessive sexualized behavior, sexual behavior with siblings, seductive behavior towards adults, and public masturbation. Sexualized Behavior helps foster and adoptive parents understand the forces behind children's sexual acting out behavior. Parents learn to pay attention to warning signs, and how to take appropriate actions.

Stealing

Authored by Dr. Richard Delaney, addresses one of the most common problems parents have with foster and adoptive children. Four families dealing with children who steal share their stories with Dr. Richard Delaney who provides insight into potential causes for the problem and discusses possible solutions and positive steps parents can take to address this troubling behavior.

Struggle for Identity: Issues in Transracial Adoption and A Conversation 10 Years Later

A frank and honest discussion about race and ethnicity issues from adoptees who were adopted by families of a different cultural identity. Two of the adoptees then return ten years later to provide some perspective on their adoptions, race issues, and their relationships with their parents.

Unconditional Parenting

Thought-provoking lecture by an expert in parenting, who argues that traditional behavior management techniques are a misapplication of power and control over children. Though this is a lecture format, it is a highly entertaining, humorous and realistic look at family life.

Visitation

Working with Birth Parents 1: Visitation explains why birth parent visits are both turbulent and disturbing; yet it emphasizes why they are nevertheless beneficial to the child. Charley Joyce, LICSW, presents insightful explanations and provides practical suggestions for making visitation more positive. This course suggests ways for foster parents to clarify their roles in the visitation process and who to turn to for support. Using realistic cases, common problems are explored and solved with recommendations for younger and older children.

When the Chips are Down: Learning Disabilities and Discipline with Richard Lavoie

Entertaining and humorous lecture from this learning disabilities expert, that educates the viewer in practical techniques to shaping the behavior of children with learning disabilities. Although oriented to information for the classroom, foster parents will find much information in this video in order to care for special needs children.

Worth the Trip: Raising and Teaching Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Very practical guide to providing care to children with fetal alcohol syndrome. Does not provide much in the way of theoretical concepts, but offers day-to-day tips from bio, foster and adoptive parents who are showcased along with their children.

The Traumatized Child

In this video series, therapists Margaret Blaustein, Joyanna Silberg, Frances Waters, and Sandra Wieland describe how traumatized children understand the world and interact with others differently from other children, and how adults can respond most effectively. They explore such topics as anger and anxiety, trauma triggers, dissociation, de-escalation strategies, grounding techniques, and the process of building a trusting relationship. Their observations are reinforced by the accounts of parents, teachers, and former foster children. The presenters emphasize the importance of understanding what drives traumatized children's behaviors, rather than simply reacting to them. They provide concrete suggestions for stabilizing traumatized children and improving adult/child interactions.

Active Parenting

1, 2, 3, 4 Parents! teaches stages of development and more... Created by Active Parenting Publishers and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, 1, 2, 3, 4 Parents! is a multicultural video and discussion program for parents of children in the 1- to 4-year-old age group. Written by Michael H. Popkin, Ph.D., Betsy Gard, Ph.D., and Marilyn Montgomery, Ph.D., this program addresses basic parenting skills and is perfect for the new parent.

The 1, 2, 3, 4 Parents! program is divided into three 90-minute sessions and is recommended for groups of 10 to 20 parents. The Leader's Guide included in the Program Kit version tells you when to play the video portions and when to stop for discussion. The easy-to-read Parent's Workbook offers examples, charts and worksheets so parents can practice their new skills at home!

Active Parenting

Get ready for a powerful tool to help today's busy families. Active Parenting Now is the revision of our award-winning Active Parenting Today program. Designed for parents of children ages 5 to 12, Active Parenting Now helps you teach parents how to raise responsible, cooperative children who are prepared to meet the challenges of the teen years.

Written by Active Parenting Publishers founder and president Michael H. Popkin, Ph.D., this comprehensive new parenting program retains everything that was great about Active Parenting Today and adds the content you need when working with today's families.