RAD: Reactive Attachment Disorder

breezy0629

Has anyone ever had experience with this? I am asking on behalf of some new foster parents.. curious if you have any useful links or info.

MummyGruetzie

DD has this dx. For younger children with special needs its incredibly hard to find attachment help--its just out of most therapists realm, but we have found someone really good through a recommendation from our children's hospital's adoption clinic. Adoption clinics can be a great resource, regardless of whether they plan to adopt. I've also found that in general Fetal Alcohol Syndrome support groups offer great info. on behaviors and are mostly attended by foster or adoptive parents. These groups are much more prevalent that you'd realize.

And this book: "The Connected Child" is often recommended for adoption in general, but is particularly useful for children with attachment issues. Becky Bailey also has some wonderful positive resources available to parents in general. Her book: I Love You Rituals in particularly for this situation. 

There are some major clinics nationally which deal with attachment issues. They are mostly associated with universities. Off the top of my head, I'm remembering the one that's run by the authors of "Connected Child". Its called the Institute of Child Development. They run a big Summer camp if the family is anywhere close by to that area.

Most importantly, I'd say to the family to get whatever help they can through therapy. Some social services will dismiss the child's issues, because they're so used to seeing it. It can be draining to parent a child with attachment issues, but even more draining to constantly feel like you're fighting the system to help the child. Whatever resources they can establish ahead of time, they'll be all the better for it.  

Let me know if you have more specific questions.  

breezy0629

Thank you!

TeraandJosh

We adopted our son and he has significant attachment issues, but we haven't been to a therapist to get a diagnosis for RAD. We are currently working on different services through EI at the moment. I highly suggest they also contact their social worker or the agency/state through which they are fostering. They should provide a lot of post-placement support and should be a great resource for therapy services in the area.

The pp gave some great advice and I would ditto that all. Also, there is a Yahoo group called "Adopting_Older_Kids" or A_O_K which would be very beneficial. There are plenty of foster parents on the group as well. Anyways, they are a great resource and many of the them have children with RAD and they can give great advice. Also, this website has some centers that specialize in attachment-related issues and RAD. https://www.attachmentdisorder.net/Informative_Links.htm