Community models could strengthen foster care system

Foster parent
Frank Martin Gill (R) casts a shadow on the ground as he talks with his six-year-old foster son, known as N.R.G., September 22, 2010 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Cris Beam's "To The End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care" is included on the New York Times list of 100 Notable Books for 2013.

From The New York Times review:

"To the End of June" is a triumph of narrative reporting and storytelling, as well as a thorough and nuanced analysis of an American institution deeply in need of reform. It would have been hard enough to write a book focusing on just one theme, but Beam, a foster parent herself, strives for both humanity and context. Except for an occasional structural problem — there are so many characters, I sometimes lost track of whom she was writing about — she succeeds.

During the first part of the hour, we look back at Beam's appearance on our show in October 2013.

We continue the conversation by discussing the kind of support foster care families need to be successful. We look at a few community support models from around the country.