The Helper Series

 From The Helping Books®: The Helper Series
The Helper Series is a powerful collection of four companion books written especially for the adults who stand beside children in crisis—foster parents, caseworkers, therapists, educators, relatives, and community advocates. These books are designed to support the grown-ups who keep it all together when a person's world is falling apart, so to keep yours together.

With empathy, clarity, and trauma-informed language, each book in the Helper Series offers practical guidance, emotional insight, and affirming support for those navigating complex child welfare situations. Whether you're a temporary guardian or a long-term caregiver, these books acknowledge the invisible weight Helpers carry—and provide tools to lighten the emotional load while showing up for the child in their care.

Rooted in the belief that healing happens in community, the Helper Series empowers adults to lead with consistency, compassion, and connection—because no child should heal alone, and no Helper should feel unsupported.

 From The Helping Books®, the You Are Worthy series is an innovative collection of 22 bibliotherapeutic books designed to offer a personalized, inclusive, and healing reading experience for children, while actively challenging racism, ableism, and other forms of marginalization. Each book features the same empowering, strengths-based language but visually represents diverse identities across race, ethnicity, gender, and ability, including children with physical, cognitive, and invisible disabilities. This allows young readers to select a version that reflects their own lived experience, fostering self-recognition, emotional validation, and identity development through literature.

Rooted in trauma-informed care and social-emotional learning principles, this series embraces the clinical foundation of “books as mirrors,” a core bibliotherapeutic approach that affirms every child’s right to be seen, heard, and valued. By integrating art, affirmations, and therapeutic storytelling, The Helping Books® supports emotional regulation, self-esteem, and resilience. Each book serves as a compassionate tool for healing, connection, and empowerment—promoting dignity and belonging for all children, including those with disabilities.

From The Helping Books®, My Name is NOT Fosterkid® is a transformative bibliotherapeutic series created to support children navigating the complexities of the foster care system. Written by clinical professionals, social workers, and educators, this trauma-informed series provides children with tools for emotional regulation, self-advocacy, identity development, and resilience in the face of displacement, grief, and uncertainty.

Through therapeutic storytelling and relatable animal characters, the series invites foster youth to process difficult experiences while learning critical life skills and understanding the systems surrounding them. Rooted in evidence-based social work practices and the bibliotherapeutic principles of “books as mirrors” and “books as bridges,” this series validates each child's unique journey and encourages connection, healing, and hope.

1. The Main Book – My Name is NOT Fosterkid®: Fossa
   Fossa’s journey introduces readers to the child welfare system, teaches essential life skills, helps children identify safe adults (“Helpers”), and supports goal-setting.
    
2. Fox's Adoption Adventure
   A gentle exploration of coping with grief, transitions, and the emotional complexities of adoption.
    
3. Tiger's Grandpa Guardian
   Highlights kinship care and the inner strength found in multigenerational families.
    
4. Bear's Group Home Adventure
   Addresses group home living, emphasizing emotional regulation, peer conflict, and support-building.
    
5. Deer's Adoption Quest
   Follows a child’s journey toward a desired and permanent adoptive home.
    
6. Bunny's Road to Emancipation
   Explores themes of independence, self-determination, and preparing for life after care.
    
7. Squirrel's Homecoming
   Centers on reunification with biological parents and the mixed emotions that may arise.
    

1. Growing Up Is Hard to Do™
   A bibliotherapeutic resource for children during Child Protective Services (CPS) visits, offering reassurance, clarity, and emotional grounding.
    
2. The Shadows of the Foster Care System
   A reflective collection of stories from “Helpers” working within the child welfare system—designed to increase insight, empathy, and advocacy.
    
3. Advice for Helpers
   A practical guide for caregivers, therapists, and foster families on how to support children in care with trauma-informed compassion.
    
4. Stress-Relieving Mandala Animal Designs and Poems
   Combines creative expression and mindfulness through coloring and poetry to promote self-soothing and introspection.
    
5. Foster Parent Record Book
   A structured tool to support consistent, trauma-informed documentation for foster families.
    

Each title within the My Name is NOT Fosterkid® series was designed with clinical intention—to provide safe, developmentally appropriate, and affirming tools that promote healing, insight, and a deeper understanding of self. Through storytelling and visual expression, The Helping Books® helps children reframe their identity from “just a foster kid” to a whole, resilient individual with dignity, voice, and hope for the future.

 "How to Talk to Your Child About War" by LC Galbraith from The Safety & World Events Series

This children's book, written by LC Galbraith, is part of The Helping Books®—a trauma-informed bibliotherapeutic series designed to help children and families navigate difficult topics with clarity, empathy, and emotional support with world events.

Purpose of the Book:
"How to Talk to Your Child About War" is a gentle, age-appropriate tool to help parents, caregivers, and educators talk honestly with children about the reality of war, while preserving a sense of safety and emotional grounding. It was created to support children who may be:

• Hearing about war in the news or online
• Living in military families or veteran households
• Refugees or displaced by conflict
• Experiencing anxiety, confusion, or fear about violence or global events
   

What the Book Does:

• Provides clear, child-friendly language to explain what war is, why it happens, and how it affects people
• Validates the child’s feelings (fear, anger, sadness, confusion) without overwhelming them
• Introduces key therapeutic concepts like safety, empathy, and choice
• Encourages open dialogue between child and adult, using guided questions
• Offers coping strategies and practical tools, including grounding techniques, hope-building exercises, and ways to help others
• Centers on resilience, kindness, and compassion in a chaotic world
   

What Makes It Unique:

• Written by LC Galbraith (pen name of Layna Crofts), a social worker, foster parent, and trauma recovery advocate
• Developed using trauma-informed, therapeutic principles from psychology, child development, and narrative therapy
• Includes “Notes to Helpers,” giving guidance to the adult on how to read the book with a child and how to answer hard questions
• Reflects diverse family situations and honors military, displaced, and multicultural identities
• Soft illustrations and calm tone make the material accessible without being frightening
   

Who It's For:

• Children ages 5–12 (with parental support)
• Military families
• Refugee resettlement agencies
• Therapists and school counselors
• Social workers and educators
• Families facing difficult world conversations
   

Books to be coming in this series:  

1. How to Talk to Your Child About War
    
2. How to Talk to Your Child About School Shootings
    
3. When the World Feels Scary: Helping Kids Understand the News
    
4. Why Did We Have to Leave? A Book for Refugee and Immigrant Families
    
5. When the Power Goes Out: A Book About Natural Disasters
    
6. What Is a Protest? A Child’s Guide to Justice and Peace
   
    

1. Why Did Someone I Love Die? A Book About Grief
    
2. Where Did Daddy Go? A Book for Children With Incarcerated Parents
    
3. When Someone I Love Is Sick: Talking About Cancer or Long Illness
    
4. When I Miss My Birth Family: A Book for Foster and Adopted Kids
    

1. My Name Is NOT Fosterkid® (existing title in series)
    
2. You Belong Here: A Book for Children in Foster or Kinship Care
    
3. What Does Adoption Mean? A Child’s Journey to Belonging
    
4. Families Can Look Different: A Book About Family Diversity
    
5. Parenting After Serving™ (military reintegration family book)
    
6. When My Parents Fight: Understanding Conflict at Home
    

1. My Body Belongs to Me: A Book About Consent
    
2. Good Touch, Bad Touch: How to Stay Safe and Speak Up
    
3. Secrets That Hurt and Secrets That Don’t
    

1. I Am Me: A Book About Gender Identity and Expression
    
2. Why Am I Different? Embracing Race and Culture
    
3. You Matter: A Book About Self-Worth and Belonging
    
4. Brave Enough to Speak Up: A Book About Advocacy and Voice
    

1. When You Can't Go Home: A Book for Homeless or Displaced Children
    
2. Mom’s in Recovery: Understanding Addiction in Families
    
3. When I Feel Unsafe at School: A Book About Bullying
    
4. When My Parent Comes Back From Jail or Prison
    
5. Is It My Fault? A Book for Children in Domestic Violence Homes

 The Adoption Series includes four distinct perspectives on the adoption journey:

• Saved – A heartfelt reflection from a birthmother
   
• Wanted – A tender account from an adoptive mother
   
• My Story, My Choice – An empowering narrative from an adoptee, adopted out of foster care
   
• My Foreign Adoption – A global perspective on international adoption, told through the eyes of a child
   

Each book is written to honor the unique voice and lived experience of those touched by adoption, offering healing, understanding, and hope.