My home is filled with invisible disorders and health issues. Autism, depression, mood disorder, PTSD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Attachment Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder. I guess some could argue that many of these aren’t invisible, yet most don’t realize what happens inside our home, which might be a good thing. I call them “invisible” because no…
Read MoreAll articles filed in attachment issues
development stage or attachment issues? (adoption/foster)
“My child is five and she lies a lot, is this a developmental stage, because I know some kids lie, or is it an attachment issue?” Questions like this come up often in the foster and adoption community. No matter the age of their child, parents wonder whether a behavior (usually one they don’t particularly…
Read Moredetecting attachment issues (adoption/foster)
I have listed the behaviors children with attachment issues display in a post titled, signs of neglect, trauma, and attachment issues, but felt there needed to be a more extensive list and one that was more accessible. After all, that is why I’m here, because of attachment issues and to help children heal from their past,…
Read Morewhen your adopted child doesn’t fit seamlessly into your life, what will you do? (adoption/foster)
To this day Dimitri’s bones ache when the winter cold settles in. As that chill cloaks him, memories of a frozen Uzbekistan scene play through his mind like a horror film. His father laying on the concrete floor of an abandoned building, drunk, and nearly dead. He’d wrapped a thread bare blanket around his sister,…
Read Morejust deal with it (feelings: part 4) – (adoption/foster)
Were you raised by a parent who told you to “just deal with it?” Were you taught to ignore your feelings or that they weren’t important? If we tell our hurting children to just deal with it without giving them a listening ear, and tools for how to handle their feelings, it won’t help your child…
Read Morebe available (feelings: part 3) – (adoption)
In part two of this series, I talked about labeling your child’s feelings so they can begin to put together what’s happening inside them, both physical feelings: hunger and sickness; and the feelings such as jealousy and disappointment. Today we are taking the next step, which is talking about those feelings. We can’t define a feeling…
Read Morename those feelings (feelings: part 2) – (adoption)
I am well into adulthood and frankly I still have trouble labeling how I’m feeling when things aren’t quite right. Anyone with me on this? I feel that if you haven’t been in psychotherapy on a weekly basis, you might have difficulty nailing what exactly it is that’s making you so gloomy. Our kids who came…
Read Moreemotional balance begins with us (feelings: part 1) – (adoption/foster)
Some of you see the title of this post and scoff, “Well, that’s never going to happen, I guess there’s no hope for me.” Others see it and say, “Of course, that’s why I’m so calm.” And yet others fall in the middle, and I am one of them, or I hope I am. I…
Read Moreadoption and stranger danger
How do we teach our kids about stranger danger without completely scaring them out of their mind? Or do we throw all caution to the wind and tell them the whole gory story about why we don’t want them talking to the guy down the street? Stranger danger, as we all know, is REAL, but…
Read Moreit’s your fault mom (adoption/foster)
I apologize in advance to any fathers who are visiting today. This post is about mothers, but feel free to keep reading. It came out of nowhere, Payton hit me. She was one-year-old, and it was the first time she’d done anything like it. What caused her to lash out at me? I was about…
Read More
lovin' adoptin' & autism 