One of my favourite spreads of Tim
Tim is a young primary schooler with a passion for dinosaurs and a laissez faire attitude towards his appearance. He craves affection and welcomes sibling rivalry but above all aches for a family to call his own. After being caught up in the foster care system for a number of years, Tim not only loses his laugh but his hope of settling down and unpacking his dinosaurs for good. Until one day, whilst residing with the Lees, his dream of living in a full time family makes a remarkable and humorous rebound.
The Boy Who Lost His Laugh is a sensitive introductory look at the fabric of foster care that explores themes of family, relationships, adoption, belonging, sense of self and parenting. Every foster care situation is different and unique, like the foster children who are subjected to it. The need to place children in residential, emergency or kin care arises for varying reasons not least of which being a requirement of child protection (1 in 32 children in Australia require child protection. The numbers are similar in the Americas). Approximately 8 in 1000 Australian children (9.2 in Canada and UK) are in out-of-home or foster care. The percentages are even higher for those in NZ.
More alarming is the fact that ‘Most of the children in out-of-home care (94%) were on a care and protection order and 30,600 (67%) had been continuously in out-of-home care for 2 years or more.’ And ‘almost one-third (32%) of children in out-of-home care were aged 10‒14, and a similar percentage were aged 5‒9 (30%). Just over half (52%) of all children in out-of-home care were boys.’*
Ideally, children in foster or kin care are able to return to their original family home, safely and permanently – ‘reunification vs adoption‘ as it were. This sadly is not always the case and, at times, a situation of ‘family hopping‘^ ensues for one reason or another. It was this aspect of foster care that formed the basis of Tim’s story, providing the catalyst for him losing his laugh.
Whilst Tim’s story has a happy outcome, it can’t possibly address the entire spectrum of emotions, causes and variations of foster care. However hopefully, it can strike a chord with those experiencing similar situations while shedding greater light on a systemic and far-reaching societal problem by increasing awareness and promoting safe, non-judgemental discussions about family dynamics both within the home and classroom. Perhaps then we as a society will be better able to protect our most vulnerable members, take more affirmative action and drive down statistics like this one: 60% of homeless people have been in foster care at some stage.
*Based on statistics gathered between 2018 – 2020 from sources including Banardos Organisation, Government, foster care and child welfare organisations across ANZ, US, Canada and the UK.
^As raised by Brian Smith, CEO Queensland Forster and Kinship Care
Teachers’ Notes – Coming Soon!
Book Trailer – Coming Soon!
Published: March 2025
Illustrator: Heidi Cooper-Smith
Publisher: EK Books, $27.99 (hardback) ,$16.99 (paperback US & UK only)
ISBN: 9781921497162 (hardback), 9781921497087 (paperback US & UK only)
Format: Hardcover 32 pp
Ideal for: 4 – 8 year olds, foster families, childcare workers and educators, school libraries!
Buy the Book: for personally signed copies – contact me direct Order through EK Books
Published Reviews, Testimonials and Interviews:
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