Permanency Tip of the Week: Week 2 (of 4) – Attachment and the Holidays – Questions to consider
Attachment can be viewed as the glue that forms and keeps relationships together. Given the relationship history of many of our Youth and Young Adults, you can see why the Attachment journey can be so challenging. Here are some questions to consider: What kind of issues or challenges does our own experience related to attachment bring up for us during the Holidays? How do we cope with past and / or recent issues related to our own attachments which seem to linger into or resurface during the Holidays? What kind of issues or challenges might arise for the Youth and Young Adults in our homes when they have to face their attachment challenges from their past as well as their present? How can we be more sensitive to the challenges that our Youth and Young Adults experience during the Holidays as it relates to attachment? What are some creative ways that we can begin the process of improving the willingness and ability to form healthy attachments a little more each day for the Youth and Young Adults in our home?
Permanency Story of the Week: But Then We Fell In Love With This Kid
Sunday, May 11th, 2014. Mother’s Day. I awoke to the sound of my phone chiming, alerting me to an incoming text message. I put on my glasses and glanced at the screen. Three words: “Happy Mother’s Day.”
It was the first “Happy Mother’s Day” I would hear that day – before even my husband or children had the chance to say it to me. Those three little words seem so common, so mundane. And yet, they were profound. Not in the sappy “I love motherhood and I’ve been so blessed” kind of way. Truly. Profound.
The text was from my soon-to-be-adopted son’s biological grandmother.
Current Permanency related articles:
Foster Youth Internship: Ashleigh Davenport’s Story
2013 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) Foster Youth Intern, Ashleigh Davenport, shares her adoption story and her experience interning with Senator John Boozman.
Portrait of an Adoption – ChicagoNow
In honor of November being National Adoption Awareness Month, Portrait of an Adoption is hosting the fourth annual acclaimed series, 30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days. Designed to give a voice to the many different perspectives of adoption, this series will feature guest posts by people with widely varying experiences.
Dan Rather Presents – Unwanted in America: The Shameful Side of International Adoption
AXS TV – Children adopted to the United States from overseas are being abandoned or re-homed to another family over the Internet.
Summer 2014 Adoptalk – Older Youth Need Families as much as Younger Children
This issue of Adoptalk, the quarterly publication of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), focuses on how older youth need families as much as younger children. It features waiting youth who are soon to be 18 years of age and encourages the recruitment of permanent families for older youth. Articles included in this issue highlight Advocates for Family First’s new policy agenda, profiles of the 2014 NACAC award recipients, the use of the 3-5-7 Model for helping children work through grief, and much more.
Health Issues for Judges to Consider for Children in Foster Care
Published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this resource for judges provides an overview of important health issues for children and youth in foster care. It discusses special considerations for children with medically complex conditions, transitions and discharges from foster care, common health conditions to be aware of, health conditions found disproportionately among children in foster care, and charting growth. A listing of child health organizations and initiatives is also provided. This resource contains age-appropriate forms (for ages 0-5, 6-12, and 13-21) for obtaining, recording, and tracking relevant health information for individual children.
Implicit Memories: The Roots of Today’s Behavioral Challenges
Arleta James, M.S., P.C.C. – Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio – I think many children and adolescents arrive in adoptive families traumatized by the neglect of the orphanage experience. Or, traumatized by domestic violence, etc. that occurred in the pre-natal period or shortly after birth. In effect, the implicit memory systems are on-line very early! Implicit memory systems store emotions, sensory experiences (sounds, smells, etc.) and expectations and assumptions about relationships based on prior experiences. Implicit memories form early in life – prior to the infant having language. They cannot be recalled, but they can be triggered (Briere & Scott, 2014.) So, while your son or daughter may not remember the traumas he or she endured explicitly – his or her brain remembers implicitly! When triggered, the implicit memory system wreaks havoc – behaviorally and emotionally these children deteriorate! Fortunately, we have new types of therapeutic interventions that help the brain resolve these very early implicit memories. Healing is possible!