Screening applicants for adoption or foster homes has life-altering consequences for the children involved, yet there are incredibly few programs available to train screeners. The educational system that certifies thousands of social workers each year does not understand the specialized training required to screen adoptive and foster parents; social work schools provide minimal interview training and what training they do provide focuses on therapeutic interview techniques rather than screening skills. There is a clear need for a book like Tough Choices, one that can be incorporated into course requirements and used by working social workers and psychologists involved with adoption and foster parent screening.
The Screener, written by a former social worker, who has placed hundreds of children into adoptive and foster homes, and a clinical psychologist, will mesh the best of psychology and social work experience into a definitive guide for screening adoption and foster home applicants. The book will provide information on:
· Evaluating aberrant behavior and unhealthy parenting attitudes
· Interview techniques
· Psychological testing

The Screener will target a professional and academic audience, but it will be written in an accessible style that will be free of technical language, thus making it appropriate for college level students and professionals who don't have time to sift through empirical data to obtain accessible information that they can adapt to their profession. It will not be written for adoptive parents. It will be based on case histories, research data, and interpretive analysis.