AUBURN – A special forum on foster care will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at 21 Beacon Ave.

Guest speakers will discuss the value and status of child welfare and foster care in Maine today and look at the positives in the child welfare system.

Speakers will include John Miller, assistant program manager of the Department of Health and Human Services; Rosemary Hart, a former foster child; and Donna Warren, president of the Tri-County Foster Parent Association.

Participants can meet local author Robert Chapman, whose book, “A Certain Fall,” was recently released.

The book, based on actual events, portrays child abuse in a family during the 1950s and ’60s when child welfare as an organized system was nearly nonexistent. Chapman has worked for more than 35 years in the child welfare field.

Also present at this event will be Maine watercolorist Gene R. Fuller, the cover artist for the book. The book and prints of cover art will be available for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds to be donated to Tri-County Foster Parent Association.