Kids Need to Be Safe: A Book for Children in Foster Care (Kids Are Important) [Paperback]

Julie Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2005 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Kids Are Important

“Kids are important… They need safe places to live, and safe places to play.” For some kids, this means living with foster parents. In simple words and full-color illustrations, this book explains why some kids move to foster homes, what foster parents do, and ways kids might feel during foster care. Children often believe that they are in foster care because they are “bad.” This book makes it clear that the troubles in their lives are not their fault; the message throughout is one of hope and support. Includes resources and information for parents, foster parents, social workers, counselors, and teachers.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Pres-Grade 1–Meant to reassure children in foster care, this accumulation of short, declarative sentences stresses the importance of being safe. The illustrations show a multiethnic cast of kids and adults, some in positive situations and others in more stressful settings. The first half of the book discusses, in the briefest possible terms, why kids end up in foster care, and the second half talks about foster parents and other adults in supporting roles. There is virtually no transition from one thought to the next, giving a random feel to the text. With only 10 spreads, the extreme brevity alone imposes some limits. Still, the information presented seems arbitrary, at best. One entire spread is devoted to the statement, Usually moms and dads take good care of kids and keep kids safe. If the audience for the book is truly the one stated in the subtitle, why emphasize what these children's parents have failed to do? The rather ordinary paintings are weakest at reflecting facial expressions. A brief but helpful informational message for adults is appended, giving tips on helping foster children work through their difficult emotions, and a list of adult resources is also included. The book does offer validation of a living situation that affects thousands of children in the U.S. each year and explains it in a straightforward style, albeit with mediocre results.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
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About the Author

Julie Nelson is passionately committed to supporting society’s most highly stressed children. She is a teacher and home visitor for the Families Together Preschool, a nonprofit early intervention program, and an instructor at the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575421925
• ISBN-13: 978-1575421926
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 8.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Parenting & Families > Adoption
  • #9 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Education > Education Theory > Educational Psychology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Offering children informed and informative guidance through the process of foster care, July 12, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kids Need to Be Safe: A Book for Children in Foster Care (Kids Are Important) (Paperback)

Kids Need To Be Safe by Julie Nelson is nicely illustrated with pictures by Mary Gallagher and offers children insightful, informative and quite helpful guidance through the hardships and difficulties of childhood when in the care of other different parents, guardians, and foster parents. Providing young readers ages 4 to 10 with an age appropriate understanding of what happens with parents who cannot maintain a healthy relationship together, or do not have place to live for their children, or for other reasons lose custody of the child, Kids Need To Be Safe favorably explains the basics of foster care. An important addition to school, community library, and family counseling center library collections, Kids Need To Be Safe is very highly recommended for all parents, foster parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers offering children informed and informative guidance through the process of foster care.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for ALL children., July 8, 2007

By 

Julie Olsen Edwards (Santa Cruz, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kids Need to Be Safe: A Book for Children in Foster Care (Kids Are Important) (Paperback)

This is by far and away the best (and most respectful) book I've seen about Foster Care. Beautifully illustrated, it presents the need for Foster Care with sensitivity and gentleness, continually reiterating "Kids are important, kids need to be safe". It doesn't sugar coat the hard feelings, nor does it make the child's original family into demons. I've read this to children both in and out of foster care - and all of them have been touched and moved.
Bravo!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids Need To Be Safe, September 15, 2008

By 

Gayle Moeller (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kids Need to Be Safe: A Book for Children in Foster Care (Kids Are Important) (Paperback)

This book went over very well with our three children, ages 1, 2, and 3. The first time we read it to them, the youngest said, "It's me!" I had been searching for a children's book that spoke to their situation and have been very pleased with this one.