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When Gina Heumann and her husband Aaron picked up their beautifulbaby boy from his Guatemalan foster mom, the warning signs

As school winds down, many families look forward to beach vacations, summer camps and lazy days. They break out the

To better serve children with developmental trauma, Kolk has proposed adding a new diagnosis to the DSM called Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD). The new diagnostic…

Let’s strip away the platitudes and talk about surviving. Here’s my unfiltered, pragmatic RAD-parent-to-RAD-parent advice.

Kids with RAD have an indefatigable need to control the people and situations around them because they only feel safe when they prove to themselves…

Due to trauma during her early development, the lens Kayla viewed the world through was warped. It made even loving caregivers seem unsafe. Situations and…

Raising a child with developmental trauma can be incredibly difficult and isolating. The more you understand your child’s trauma history, and learn about the science…

Child-on-parent violence is at epidemic levels in some families. However, it’s a taboo topic in our society and there’s little help available for parents or…

Gina and her husband adopted Maddox only to discover he suffered developmental trauma and was diagnosed with RAD. Through years of therapy and specialized schools…

Jessie Hogsett was diagnosed with RAD at the age of 12 and grew up acting out of the hurt and trauma of his early childhood.…

If your child has attachment issues, The Boy who Build a Wall Around Himself is the perfect book to cuddle up

The Kids we Lose is a PBS documentary that explores how ineffective discipline techniques in schools feed the school-to-prison pipeline. It does a great job…

For the safety of our kids, who will someday age-out of residential treatment and into the real world – we must find a balance. They’ve…

Regardless of our politics, we can advocate together on behalf of innocent children. Let’s consider that the immigration system isn’t the only “system” that’s harmful…

Parents of kids diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) are all too familiar with the symptoms. Anecdotally we often list food hoarding, violent outbursts, crazy…

My son Devon was 10-years-old when I dropped him off at a residential treatment facility (RTF) for the first time.

This HBO documentary explores the struggle of three moms who are trying to find mental health services for their aggressive

Adoption finalization is a reason to celebrate. Parents have filled out mountains of paperwork, waited months or years and shed

Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the…

These types of sentiments garner thousands of likes, shares, and re-tweets. But for families like mine, they simply don’t ring true.

Our recent Facebook poll showed up to 95% of adoptive parents are not sufficiently trained on developmental trauma and the

 Only a few days ago, I had the opportunity to plant a gun in a school. The doors were unlocked.

Our recent Facebook poll showed that 67% of children first misdiagnosed with RAD (and other developmental trauma diagnoses) were first diagnosed with ADHD. 

One of the challenges of raising a child with developmental trauma disorder is how many professionals do not truly understand

The a-z Of Therapeutic Parenting has real strategies and solutions for kids with developmental trauma. Enough said. Seriously, for most adoptive parents I could end…

This book will provide an interesting and enlightening background on the science of trauma. It’s not a how-to, although Dr. Kolk does offer some insight…

Under my desk is an antique iron. It has been there since the day my mother hid it from my

February 10, 20197:58 AM ETHeard on  All Things Considered Many, though not all, of the perpetrators have experienced childhood traumas such

This story was produced by Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health. Negative childhood experiences can set our brains

My son Devon has a long track-record of making false allegations against staff at treatment facilities where he’s a patient. “I’m afraid

These popular novels are twisty, psychological thrillers with surprise endings. They each feature a child with developmental trauma and/or RAD.

By Christine Herman When Matthew Timion needed to get his son treatment for mental illness, he did not anticipate it

Don’t miss out! pdf resources shared at the 2019 REFRESH conference! Includes a handout for teachers.

My husband and I adopted Devon out of foster care when he was 3. Devon has complex developmental trauma disorder

Caleb, 11, was thin with blond hair, glasses, and a big smile where crooked teeth jockeyed for space. He and

In case you missed it…these are my top 10 posts for 2018: How to discipline a child with RAD What

Our Failed Solutions for Seriously Ill Foster Youths (published by The Chronicle of Social Change) Justin Taylor Bean, removed from

Today my son’s therapist apologized to me. (Go ahead, take a moment to pick yourself up off the floor, then

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the ATTACh 2018 conference. I learned from keynote speakers including leading researcher and

Tweets. Facebook messages. Verbal knockouts. One too many times, I’ve been told reactive attachment disorder (RAD)—the result of a child’s

An interview with Diane L. Redleaf, a family defense pioneer Nationally-known leaders have called Diane L. Redleaf the “conscience of

Two-year-old Kayla was shy with dimples that winked when she laughed. Her brother, three-year-old Devon, had curly brown hair, freckles

If you are a classroom teacher you almost certainly have students who have experienced childhood trauma. A recent national survey

Unless you’ve lived through a child’s relentless screaming, violent outbursts, physical aggression, and extreme manipulation – hour-after-hour, day-after-day – it

I opened the closet door to find my son Devon squatting in the shadowy darkness with a belt looped loosely

By Lynn K. Sollitto, brave mom, author and RAD advocacy hero I instantly fell in love with my biological son

Illinois Newsroom–Jul 31, 2018 When Toni and Jim Hoy adopted their son Daniel as a toddler, they did not plan

By brave adoptive parent and advocate Pernell Meier Social workers have been an ever-present part of my family. Over the course

Do you ever roll out of bed already over it? At your limit before the day starts? Knowing you can’t

Adults who grew up in so-called “typical” families—the families we pay no or little attention to because it looks “normal”,