Category Archives: Foster Care

Any parent of a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) will tell you their behaviors are almost impossible to live with. Those parents can give anyone who will listen a litany of behaviors and/or problems their child has. Most of the time no one believes the parents because the child is such an “angel” inContinue reading “R.A.D. Behaviors and What Causes Them”

As an adoptive parent of a child with unknown Reactive Attachment Disorder, I was never prepared for what my daughter could dish out. I felt like a pilot hitting a fog bank and flying blind. The worst thing is after the diagnosis was finally used in the 1990s, adoptive parents are still flying blind. AsContinue reading “Adoptive Parents’ Experience with RAD”

Do you know what causes sexualized behaviors in an adopted child? Would you be willing to parent a child with sexualized behaviors? These questions pop up occasionally when I talk to families with children, they have difficulty parenting. The answer to the first question is that a child may have been abused sexually by aContinue reading “Does Your Child Have Sexualized Behaviors?”

It’s really shattering when I read about parents’ rights to raise their children when the child has to be placed in foster care, which can last from days to when the child turns 18 and ages out. Twenty years ago, I worked with an advocacy group that was hired to review and offer suggestions onContinue reading “Where Does Reactive Attachment Disorder Come From?”

The other day someone wrote me and asked if Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is considered an adoption disability. It made me start to think. I honestly think it should be considered a special needs disability.  Children with RAD often have major learning disabilities. Their thought processes do not behave in understandable ways. It’s so surprisingContinue reading “Adoption Disability: R.A.D.”

I’ve heard it said by many adoptive parents of children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) that they hate November because it’s National Adoption Month. Their dreams of a successful adoption had become nightmares. As an adoptive parent of a child with RAD, I sit in the middle of the discussions all the time. My birthdayContinue reading “November – National Adoption Month”

Older RAD adoptions vs an ugly word (re-homing) There are few things that can set me off, but the illegal practice of placing a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) in a stranger’s home without legal protections in place for the child, is a major one. Even the term that is used for this practice,Continue reading “Older R.A.D. Adoptions vs an Ugly Word”

I have strong feelings about helping parents, who through no fault of their own, have decided that in the best interests of their child and the rest of their family to try to find a different family for their child. Adoption is such a flash point for positive and negative comments.  The internet is rifeContinue reading “What Is Real Love for Parents of RAD Children?”