Also by this author: Now I Am Known: How a Street Kid Turned Foster Dad Found Acceptance and True Worth
Published by Baker Publishing Group, Baker Books on May 6, 2025
Genres: Non-Fiction, Adoption, Christian Life, Parenting, Social Justice
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"A roadmap for healing and connection that every parent and child could benefit from."--Tori Hope Petersen, bestselling author and speaker
· from a former street kid turned adoptive dad and foster dad
· how to parent with grace and consistency
· special information about dealing with challenging behaviors, broken trust, and traumaWhether a child has been in a loving and supportive home from day one or has been bounced from one house to another in the foster care system, parenting them is messy. A former street kid, Peter Mutabazi knows what it feels like to grow up in a world where love, caring, and kindness are nowhere to be found. But as the adoptive father of three and a foster dad to more than forty children, he also knows what a difference it makes when a child experiences the positive influence of an attentive and loving parent.
In this honest and hopeful book, Peter shares surprising lessons he has learned during his unique parenting adventure, including how to
· parent children for who they are rather than for who you want them to be
· look beyond problem behaviors to find their root causes
· love children who do not want your love
· understand your own scars and turn them into understanding and healing for your childrenNo matter what your parenting journey has entailed, you will find wisdom, encouragement, and practical instruction in these hope-soaked pages.
This is the best parenting book that I’ve read in a long time. It is easy to read, practical, and full of humble, honest advice. The author, Peter Mutabazi, is a speaker and author who has done a lot of humanitarian work for different organization, after a tumultuous childhood in poverty and years living on the streets in Uganda. His previous book, Now I Am Known, shared his inspiring life story, and this new book unpacks important lessons that he has learned from foster parenting. He has a unique perspective because of his background, and he draws on his own past and his foster parenting experiences to help readers better understand the challenges that foster kids face.
In the first part of Love Does Not Conquer All, Mutabazi shares things he wished he had known before he became a dad, and in the second section, he shares advice about parenting topics like helping kids learn how to face the consequences of their actions, and how parents can look beyond a child’s troubling behaviors to find the root causes underneath. The final part of the book focuses specifically on adoption and foster care, offering advice about a variety of challenging situations that arise in that context. One theme that the author returns to here is that no matter how difficult things become at home, the parents chose this life, and their foster or adopted kid did not. He writes in a very compelling, sympathetic way about the unique challenges that foster and adopted kids face, and he shares trauma-informed, practical, and time-tested advice.
This book avoids many common problems that I see in parenting books. Firstly, the author shares personal stories from his home life without violating the children’s privacy. Since he has fostered over forty kids and shares these stories anonymously, he is able to give the reader practical illustrations without identifying and oversharing about a particular child. Also, because he has parented so many kids from different situations, the author recognizes that one size does not fit all, and he even devoted a whole chapter to that idea. Mutabazi shares lots of advice in this book, but it isn’t prescriptive or just for a particular stage in a child’s life. This is generally applicable for everyone.
Love Does Not Conquer All: And Other Surprising Lessons I Learned as a Foster Dad to More Than 40 Kids is a great book for any parent who wants to engage in deeper self-reflection and grow as a parent. This book offers honest, insightful reflections on the challenges of parenting, and shares helpful advice for raising kids. It also shares important information about child psychology and trauma, while remaining easy to read and accessible. This is a great book for parents of foster, adopted, or biological kids, and this is also a great book for people who are considering becoming foster or adoptive parents for the first time.
