Attachment Issues with Adoption

Where to start:

• Check out the following Creating a Family radio shows:

  • August 10, 2011: Creating Attachment with Your Adopted Child in the 1st Year

  • March 2, 2011: Parenting a Child that has Been Sexually Abused

  • November 10, 2010: Building the Bonds of Attachment with Adopted Children

  • September 22, 2010: The Connected Child: Creating Attachment in Adopted Children

  • April 21, 2010: Raising a Child with Attachment Issues

  • October 14, 2009: Creating Attachment with Adopted Kids Through Lifebooks

  • August 26, 2009: Beyond Consequences

  • December 17, 2008: Attachment Issues When you Adopt a Child Over Two

  • September 3, 2008: The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family

  • February 13, 2008: Parenting the Hurt Child / Attachment 101

  • January 23, 2008: Toddler Adoption:The Weaver's Craft

  • November 14, 2007: An Interview with Deborah Gray, author of Attaching in Adoption

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General Information on Attachment:

• Frontline has released a report about the sharp rise in psychiatric diagnoses and medication among children called The Medicated Child. The report and a parent's guide can be found here.
• Books by Deborah Gray: Attaching in Adoption and Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience After Neglect and Trauma. Simply the best! Attaching in Adoption is written for parents and Nurturing Adoptions for professionals, but you can't go wrong with either of them. I would recommend starting with Attaching in Adoption, and then decide if you need Nurturing Adoptions. Perhaps you might want to ask your library to buy or order it through interlibrary loan for you to review before you buy it. I love her books!
• "Top Ten Tips for Creating Attachment in the First Year after Adoption" by Deborah Gray
• Audio radio show on This American Life on Reactive Attachment Disorder in adoption. The title of the show is Unconditional Love. It is quite good. It lasts 27 minutes. It is the second piece of this show, so you need to skip to around 9:30 minutes. The first section is also a quite interesting segment on the research on children's need for love. You can listen for free or buy a download for $0.95.
• The Institute for Attachment & Child Development is a treatment and educational institute. Their website has educational resources for families.
• Attachment Disorder Site was created by an adoptive mom whose son was diagnosed with an attachment disorder. She compiles resources for families facing this issue.
• The Center for Family Development, in Western New York, specializes in the treatment of adopted and foster families with trauma and attachment disorder. Their website contains articles and other educational materials for parents.
• Reactive Attachment Disorder is a great website for understanding attachment issues all along the spectrum of attachment disorders.
• Attach China website is dedicated to educating parents about post- adoption issues, especially those relating to RAD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• Attachment and Trauma Network
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network was established to improve access to care, treatment, and services for traumatized children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events.
• Attachment.org is the home of the Nancy Thomas Parenting Site. This site offers information on adoption/attachment and bonding issues, and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). It is also the official home of Families by Design, providing educational materials and seminars.
• A4everfamily.org has LOTS of information on diagnosing and treating kids with attachment issues. The site is more focused on infants and babies and is more dogmatic than is my taste, but it is still a valuable resource. I would suggest reading it with an open mind and taking what makes logical sense to you and disregarding the rest.
• The Trauma and Attachment Report is a weekly online research report published out of York University in Toronto.  Its purpose is to provide clear, accurate information to members of the community, on the topic of interpersonal trauma.

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Articles:

• Parenting and Adoption: Love and a Lot More by Sally Maslansky. Nice article on what it takes to parent a post institutionalized child. The author, an adoption therapist and adoptive mom, strives to paint a realistic yet optimistic picture.
• Strategies for Building Attachment by Karleen Gribble, BRurSc, PhD,
• How to Find a Therapist Experienced in Attachment and/or Trauma tips from the Attachment Disorder Network
• Succinct article on how to build attachment with your newly adoptive child. I appreciate the author's ability to normalize the scary first few months when you may well feel more like a babysitter than a parent.
• An introduction to Attachment Parenting and Adoption.  Good Place to Start.

Support:

• The Attachment Disorder Support Group provides education and online support groups for families affected by attachment disorders. 
• The Little Prince is a well designed and run site by a mom with a child diagnosed with RAD. Her goal is to create a warm and friendly environment for other RAD parents and she has certainly done that. Check out the Venting Letters page--powerful stuff. There is a state by state listing of therapist recommended by other parents and a daily affirmation.
• RadKid.Org provides resources and mutual support for those parenting children with Reactive Attachment Disorder. The site is full of resources and has an associate forum site for parents to share their journey. 
• Yahoo Groups: Spirited Child, Daily Parenting Reflections (the Beyond Consequences Group), Post-Adoption Labyrinth