Kristen is the mom of four children within four years via birth and adoption, and has been blogging at Rage Against the Minivan as a coping skill since 2006.  If you are looking for a blog with great ideas for kids, amazing craft inspiration, scrapbooking help, and stunning photography, then AWESOME. There are a lot of those blogs out there. You should go find them.

Here, you might find musings about the impact of the skinny jean on Kristen’s self-esteem, her tendency to spill food on her laptop, and her inappropriate crush on Jon Stewart.  She also indulges in sleep-deprived rants about parenting, poop, adoption, politics, race, religion, social justice, and various other subjects that her mother warned her not to discuss in public.

For more than 30 years, FUTURES has been providing groundbreaking programs, policies, and campaigns that empower individuals and organizations working to end violence against women and children around the world.

This movement began in 2003, when Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman founded Show Hope after having their own eyes and hearts opened to the global orphan crisis. Since then, Show Hope has worked to holistically approach orphan care, helping children in four key areas:

• Adoption Aid
• Care Centers
• Pre+Post Adoption Support
• Student Initiatives

CAFO unites a movement of organizations, churches and individuals worldwide.

A Family Resource for Youth with Brain Disorders. Are you running on a perpetual cycle of frustration and need help?  Our Individualized Family Service provides families with a personal navigator to help you access services, make the most of educational, recreational and community supports, along with solutions for family peace and self care.

We are here to support, educate, and inspire you to build a bright future.  Together, we will address your concerns and identify the resources to meet them.  We will help you, your child, and your entire family thrive!

ATTACh provides an annual conference, membership directory, and other benefits to our members and the public. We invite you to join us as we continue our mission: providing training to parents and professionals to promote healthy attachment and heal trauma.

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) is the national leader in mental health services for the foster care and adoption community nationwide, nurturing, inspiring and empowering families to grow and thrive.

AdoptUSKids is a national project that supports child welfare systems and connects children in foster care with families.

Harmony’s work is making significant impact. The challenges of drug abuse, violence, and poverty, along with the related trauma, drain our state and community resources, and negatively impact our collective wellbeing.  As we build awareness of the effects of trauma and increase the treatment of the children and families touched by it, we significantly impact the health of our communities across the state of Tennessee. So children may live their best lives.

Provide support, education and resources for Therapeutic Parents and supporting professionals relating to therapeutic parenting, effective interventions, compassion fatigue and the effects of early life trauma.

High Mountain Counseling & Training Institute, is a full service counseling agency.

I try to speak for adopters in different places in relation to the support that we’d like and testify to the challenges of caring for children who’ve seen a rough side of life. I write a blog, co host a podcast and have more opinions than I ought that I share.

Mental Health America is a leader in mental health support, recovery and advocacy.

Foster the Family exists to support and encourage foster and adoptive families, mobilize and equip the community and church for foster care and adoption, and advocate for vulnerable children.

We are advocating for the right resources and treatments for children with attachment disorders and developmental trauma so families can heal.

Over the last three decades, Forrest Lien, MSW, has worked with children and adults impacted by early trauma in their many walks of life. Among other accomplishments, he created the unique therapeutic treatment model of the Institute for Attachment and Child Development as past Clinical and Executive Director. Forrest has trained thousands about the effects of trauma, foster care and adoption. He’s consulted with 20/20, HBO, and The Today Show and has presented at over 300 workshops internationally on the effects of early trauma, including at the Mayo Clinic. As owner of Lifespan Trauma Consulting, Forrest continues his legacy of highly sought-after trainings, speaking engagements, program development and advocacy and provides assessments and acts as an expert witness in court on behalf of adoptive and foster families. https://lifespantrauma.com

Our primary mission is to serve and support parents who have an aggressive teen within the home. Parents do the best they can with the tools they have. Most often, there is not enough support for the parents who go through this transition phase of their lives with their teens.

To inform and promote adoption through foster care by documenting our fostering adventures.

Our Second Chance for Kids program is designed to help children find the best family for their needs. Most adopted children do wonderfully in their adoptive home, but now and then the child does not adapt well, and a very difficult decision is made to find a new adoptive home. We are here to help both children and families to find the best fit for both parties to bring love and joy to their lives.

Evergreen Psychotherapy Center in Evergreen, Colo., is an internationally recognized home to more than of 30 years of experience and innovation in the treatment of attachment and trauma problems. We have worked with thousands of children, adults, couples and families and also have collaborated with thousands of mental health service providers, educators and allied professionals worldwide to advance research and treatment within the field.

The Connecticut Adoption Community Network (ACN) is a group of adoption professionals and adoptive parents who have formed a collaborative partnership designed to support adoptive and relative caregiver parenting.

The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health is a national family-run organization linking more than 120 chapters and state organizations focused on the issues of children and youth with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs and their families

A 2-Day Intensive To Help You Understand Trauma And Transform Your Parenting.

The mission of Mommies of Miracles is to eliminate the isolation mothers of exceptional needs children experience on a daily basis by providing an extended network of resources, products & services, grief support, family matching, and hope.

The ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) is a Community of Practice working to improve the lives of high-risk children through direct service, research and education. A major activity of the CTA is to translate emerging findings about the human brain and child development into practical implications for the ways we nurture, protect, enrich, educate and heal children. The “translational neuroscience” work of the CTA has resulted in a range of innovative programs in therapeutic, child protection and educational systems.

WHEN PARENTS ARE TRAUMA INFORMED THEY ARE BETTER EQUIPPED TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN HEAL

The National Council is committed to all Americans having access to comprehensive, high-quality care that affords every opportunity for recovery

At the Attachment & Trauma Network, it is our mission to promote healing of traumatized children and their families through support, education and advocacy. We welcome the participation of all traumatized children, their parents, professionals who work with traumatized children, and interested parties.

The Post Institute has published over 100 books, DVD’s, CD’s, MP3’s, Webinar’s, and articles on the topic of parenting children who have experienced pre-birth and early life trauma. The founders of the Post Institute are passionate about helping parents create healing from the wounds created by trauma, by providing parents an understanding of the impact of trauma and a proven effective, unique model of parenting. The Post Institute model of parenting has been put to the test by parents across the globe, as well as foster care agencies, adoption agencies, group homes, and treatment centers.

Come here when you’re at your wit’s end and need advice from someone who’s been there. Come here when you’re having a hard day and just need to know you’re not alone. Come to this page when your kid does something unbearably sweet, and you don’t want to annoy all your Facebook friends by gushing.

Because your fellow parents and me? We’re here for you on the hard days and the good ones, too. In this community, we listen. We accept. We lift each other up.

Offering autism, ADHD, behavioral services for Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois

Unforgettable. A community of kindred hearts. Gathering from across America and around the world. Parents and pastors, experts and organizations, leaders and servants. Each eager both to share and to receive — expertise and encouragement, resources and friendship. All passionate to see children thrive in adoption, foster care and effective service to the vulnerable worldwide. Seeking justice and mercy, rooted deep in the Gospel of God’s unfailing love.

We applied the knowledge we gained during our clinical work and careers to help our children overcome their respective challenges. The results didn’t happen overnight. It took years of learning, dedication, patience, love, and continued faith in the brain’s ability to heal.
The result of this journey is that we have two perspectives to share with you—one as professionals and the other as parents. We have been in a similar situation and recognize what you have been going through and how resilient you can be. We are committed to you and want to share the knowledge, personal experiences, and neurological strategies we have gained to help you become empowered and productive neuro-parents. We invite you to contact us with your questions and look forward to seeing you at one of our future webinars or parent training conferences.

Initially more widely used, the term parent abuse has now generally been superseded by other phrases: child to parent violence (CPV), adolescent violence in the home (AVITH), and child (or adolescent) to parent violence and abuse (CPVA / APVA) being perhaps the most widely used. It is generally defined as a pattern of behaviour, instigated by a child, using verbal, physical, psychological or financial means to gain power and control over a parent or carer

My life goals in four words: live real, love hard.I write about homeschooling, mom-life, healthy living, DIY projects, books we adore, introvert life, and whatever else is on my heart.

The mission of the Trauma Center is to help individuals, families and communities that have been impacted by trauma and adversity to re-establish a sense of safety and predictability in the world, and to provide them with state-of-the-art therapeutic care as they reclaim, rebuild, and renew their lives.

Using a blend of policy research and advocacy, impact litigation, and strategic communications, we work to change attitudes towards mental illness and break down barriers to quality mental healthcare for young people and their families.

ACEs Connection is a social network that accelerates the global movement toward recognizing the impact of adverse childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior and health, and reforming all communities and institutions — from schools to prisons to hospitals and churches — to help heal and develop resilience rather than to continue to traumatize already traumatized people.

Therapeutic Parenting is a highly nurturing parenting approach, with empathy at it’s core

Adoption.com promotes and supports adoption through community, education, and empowerment.

During my journey I’ve learnt to support my son with his anxiety and have stopped some of his unacceptable behaviours.  These weren’t because he is a naughty or horrible child because he’s not, but he was very distressed, due to past trauma, and anxious and didn’t know how to show his emotions. Through the use of Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) we have changed our family around and my son is now more confident and understands how to appropriately express his emotions.  It hasn’t been an easy or smooth road, but we’ve come through it and I’m passionate about helping other families do the same.

Back Adoption Today issues are free, Fostering Families Today are by subscription only.

The Attach Place Center for Strengthening Relationships provides comprehensive Attachment and Trauma Treatment. Our services are adoption-competent, trauma-informed, and designed to facilitate connection over correction and thriving over surviving. Monthly Adoption Support Group, Children’s Skills Groups, Love Matters Parenting Society Membership, Love Matters Parenting Facebook Group, Family Bootcamps, Neurofeedback, and Parent Training. www.lovemattersparenting.com;

The Congressional Mental Health Caucus serves as a bipartisan forum where Members of Congress and their staff can work together to elevate mental health issues as a national priority by holding informational briefings to pursue common legislative goals and raising awareness of important mental health issues. We inform and educate all of our colleages in order to remove stigma, increase access to mental health services, improve work-related productivity, and assure veterans receive access to comprehensive mental health services when they return home.

If you’re a caregiver, Different Dream offers resources to equip you to be a confident advocate and encouragement when you need a boost. You’re invited to engage in the caregiving conversation by leaving comments about resources or advice you’d like to share with others.

The Voice for Parents in the USA. Relying only on the U.S. Constitution, the National Association of Parents preserves and supports the parent-child relationship and the right of parents to raise their own child as they see fit, so long as the child is not harmed through strategic litigation and through education and lobbying to shape  public policy. As our membership grows, so, too, will our economic clout and ability to support parents and children fighting and coping with serious medical issues, to fund child abuse prevention and children’s medical research, particularly the  rare illnesses and diseases that are severely underfunded, and to secure benefits and discounts for our member parents!

The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.

​People, young and old, need the reminder that we all face an ‘elephant in the room’ and our goal is to simply remain open to connecting to this elephant, connecting to the unspoken. What is your elephant? You don’t need to reveal it to us as it can/will change, as life does.  It is different for everyone, but in our experience acknowledging the elephant has the potential to build huge connections. 

This four-day educational event that covers a wide variety of foster care and adoption topics—to meet the diverse needs and levels of experience of adoptive and foster parents, child welfare professionals, and people who were adopted or in foster care. We offer more than 80 workshops from expert speakers covering a range of topic

Learn – Connect – Heal – Share

The Treatment Advocacy Center is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness.

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering caused by mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research.

You will find articles, news & anything related to adopting or fostering in the US.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the millions of children around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes and to eliminating the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right to a family.

No Hands But Ours began as a sliver of a dream in 2004, when Stefanie, now a mother of 13 (9 from China), was in the process of pursuing her first adoption from China. Stefanie struggled to find adequate resources for researching special needs, and was frustrated by the lack of availability of real-life information from other parents of special needs children. In late 2008 – and three SN adoptions later – her dream of a site to encourage, equip and support families adopting special needs children from China was finally realized.

Collaborating in this effort are these adoptive moms and dads contributing their time and talents to maximize the reach and impact of this site.

Adoptive Families is an award-winning resource for parents-to-be navigating the adoption process and for parents raising children through adoption.

Bringing the systemic approach of ‘Nonviolent Resistance’ (Haim Omer) to those in Northamptonshire who work or live with violent/destructive young people.

Gina Heumann is the author of the upcoming book, Love Never Quits – Surviving & Thriving After Infertility, Adoption, and Reactive Attachment Disorder, which is due to be released in the summer of 2019.

ACMH provides information, support, resources, referral and advocacy for children and youth with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and their families.

Empowered To Connect, together with Show Hope and The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU, hosts the Empowered To Connect Conference — a two-day conference designed to help parents, caregivers, educators, ministry leaders and professionals better understand how to create safe healing places for children and youth. The conference is specifically helpful for adoptive and foster families and those who are caring for children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, maltreatment, and loss.

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

Parenting the Nurturing Way.

The ELLA Foundation is a 501(c)3 based in Savannah, Ga whose mission is to aid those who have been affected by violence, mental illness, and/or the criminal justice system. To that end, we educate, support, and advocate for trauma survivors, those with a mental health diagnosis, and those who have been adjudicated or incarcerated.

We support, educate, and empower exceptional families and our community to create an inclusive environment for children with special needs.

With your help, we strive to ensure that adoptive families get the support and resources they need to stay together. Forever.

OH based interdenominational church with an adoption and fostercare ministry.

The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development strives to help children suffering from the effects of early trauma, abuse and/or neglect. We conduct research to deepen understanding about the complex needs of these children and how to help them overcome social, behavioral, and emotional challenges.

We are the oldest complex trauma and dissociation society in the world. ISSTD seeks to advance clinical, scientific, and societal understanding about the prevalence and consequences of chronic trauma and dissociation.

If you’re a caregiver, Different Dream offers resources to equip you to be a confident advocate and encouragement when you need a boost.

ACE Interface is a Limited Liability Corporation that provides products and services to people like you, who are committed to do everything necessary to accelerate the intergenerational changes that will improve health and quality of life.  As originators of the science and community application of the ACE Study, Dr. Robert Anda and Laura Porter develop and disseminate educational products, provide assistance, consultation and analysis, design high-leverage strategies for improving health and well-being, and facilitate empowerment processes that invite everyone to contribute to ACE-informed innovations.

The Coalition of Adoptive Families was formed to provide ongoing education and support to adoptive families with the goal of increasing awareness around the challenges experienced by adopted children. As parents and primary caregivers we know it is not unusual to sometimes feel overwhelmed and inadequately prepared to assist our children with the unique challenges of adoption. We also know first hand the frustration and feelings of isolation when trying to find relevant information and experienced professionals to help with parenting challenges.

We are an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders.

Focus on the Family provides relevant Christian advice on marriage, parenting and other topics. Find practical resources for every age and lifestage.

We are committed to sharing our story honestly and openly in the hope that families like ours will feel the strength of like-minded community. When we are strong as parents, we can support our children well.

4KIDS is propelled by the vision of a home for every child. Whether that is a child removed from their home for the first time, siblings who need to stay together, a young mom in a unplanned pregnancy who needs a refuge, or a young adult who needs a place to belong, 4KIDS is there with hope and homes.

We accomplish our mission by facilitating events which provide culturally relevant and family-​centered experiences for every member of the family. These events provide individuals and families with both a deeper sense of community and an individual identity. It is our goal that all adoptees will develop a knowledge of themselves and their culture of origin and that families will have a better awareness of, and sense of pride in, their adopted family member’s birth heritage. HCAF assists children, adults, and families in becoming a part of a larger community “just like themselves,” with shared experiences, challenges, and opportunities.

The Mighty is a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities.

It’s easy to know your child needs help dealing with a fever or a broken bone, but mental health problems can be harder to identify. The tricky part of parenting is knowing the kinds of behaviors and moods that are usual for the stage of development your child is in – and when your child has gone beyond the norm and needs help.

My story starts with the traditional medical training at Loma Linda University and 4 years general General Surgery training at Oregon State Health Sciences University in Portland, OR. My life was dramatically affected by Miguel, a 4 year old boy I adopted from the foster care system while during medical school who had experienced neglect, abuse, and instability since he was born.  He ultimately challenged every aspect of my way of thinking, my medical training, even my spiritual beliefs.

We help parents and professionals show up as the wise, trusted leaders their families and communities need, whilst taking deep care of themselves and what is meaningful to them.

Capital Adoptive Families Alliance is a professionally peer run nonprofit corporation that was created in 2009 by two adoptive mothers who found themselves facing challenges raising their children that they had not anticipated.

An online news publication dedicated to solution-based news coverage of child welfare and juvenile justice.

Beacon House is a team of professional, warm and highly experienced chartered psychologists, psychotherapists and occupational therapists. We provide a wide range of mental health assessments and effective therapies for children and young people, families and adults who are experiencing mental health difficulties, emotional and behavioural problems and relationship conflict.

If you’re a parent raising a child with challenging or even severe behaviors, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll find proven solutions that go beyond ineffective traditional techniques that will help your children heal and help you enjoy being a parent again.

NCTSN’s mission is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.

Adoptive Families Coalition (AFC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the holistic support of families with adopted children who demonstrate emotional, behavioral, or psychological challenges. AFC fills a gap for post-adoption financial support to help these children receive proper therapeutic treatment. We offer a sponsorship program to assist families pay for the high cost of treatment often not covered or only partially covered by insurance. All of our services are free of charge.

I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.  From holidays to regular days, I like to spend time with my girlfriends, watch Red Sox baseball, drink an insane amount of coffee, read my Bible and make a yummy dinner each night.  I’m passionate about traveling, adoption, food and especially Jesus.

Bounceback Parenting^® will help you see the challenges in parenting as opportunities for growth and building resilience. You’ll discover why connection, not perfection wins the day, and you’ll be relieved to find that you can be a work in progress and still be a fantastic mom or dad to your kids.

We are working to preserve parental rights through a Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as through state and federal legislation that will protect children by empowering parents.

Through legal assistance, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and collaborative partnerships, the Center advocates for the value that parents should not be punished for difficult life circumstances, such as poverty or being a victim of domestic violence, or for everyday parenting decisions when children are not at risk. Instead, child welfare policies and practices should be focused on helping children who are truly abused and neglected, and on strengthening families and communities.