Traumatized children + Special needs + Children's Issues + AIDS + Transracial adoption + FAS + Older child adoption + ADHD + Daytrana + Hyperactivity + Asthma + Handicapped Children + Neurodevelopmental Disorder + Learning Disabilities + Autism + Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder + Destructive Behaviors + Overstimulation + Abandonment Issues + Malaria + PTSD + post-traumatic stress disorder + RAD + bed wetting + music and autism + challenges of raising an autistic child + what can I do with my autistic child + ODD + Attachment Issues + Attachment Disorder + cutting + reactive attachment disorder + attachment

Ask About ADD/ADHD with Dr. Thomas Phelan

JulieC — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:01:58 -0500

Parents of children whom are already diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, parents who think their children may have one or the other, and even parents who are curious about how to tell if their children may have ADD or ADHD are going to want to jump on this incredible offer! This is a chance to not only listen to a lecture by one of the leading authorities (Dr Thomas Phelan) on parenting and ADD/ADHD for free, but to have your questions answered by him as well! Why would anyone want to pass up on a deal like that?

A World recognized expert on both parenting and ADD/ADHD, Dr. Phelan

Ask About ADD/ADHD with Dr. Thomas Phelan

JulieC — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:01:58 -0500

A World recognized expert on both parenting and ADD/ADHD, Dr. Phelan

Adoption is the Only Hope for Many of the Children of Haiti

LisaS — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:45:03 -0500

If you are considering the adoption of a child through intercountry adoption, look no further than Haiti, a mere 600 miles east of Florida, where over 70% of the 8,000,000 population is children, many of them orphans living in the most horrible conditions imaginable. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and things are not getting any better. With no source of fuel and over 95% of the country deforested, 85% of the population are unemployed and trying to survive by growing enough food to feed their families.

Over 70% of the population live below poverty level, and 10% of the population will die before the age of 4. And if that isn’t bad enough, 300,000 – 400,000 of the children, often as young as 4 years old, are enslaved, many being sold to the Dominican Republic as prostitutes and cheap labor.

UNICEF has documented the plight of the children of Haiti, but is still staunchly anti-intercountry adoption.

Trauma Thursday: Traumatized Adopted Child’s Lack of Trust

FaithA — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:45:10 -0500

One of the biggest frustrations for people who are parenting traumatized adopted children is the fact that their children frequently do not trust them. The foster or adoptive parents have been nothing but trustworthy, but the traumatized adopted child still refuses to trust. This dynamic can be quite frustrating and disheartening to adoptive parents.

Unfortunately, you have a long road ahead of you before your traumatized adopted child will begin to trust you. Even when the child chooses to trust you, it will likely only be in one area rather than blanket trust. This is an unfortunate reality for anyone who has suffered from trauma, particularly from abuse.

Living With an Adopted Child with ADHD: Never a Dull Moment

FaithA — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:45:05 -0500

As I have shared before, my adopted child has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). When he is not medicated, there is never a dull moment around our house. This is why I have I written that a child with ADHD should stay medicated when he is in the care of other people, such as summer camp personnel.

My adopted child has been medicated daily for his ADHD even through the summer. Quite frankly, I don’t have the patience to deal with his behaviors all day when he is unmedicated. However, I have tried to give him a medication break a couple of times this summer when I thought I could handle it and nobody else would have to deal with his behaviors.

One of those “med breaks” came on the day before he started back to school.

Living With an Adopted Child with ADHD: Never a Dull Moment

FaithA — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:45:05 -0500

One of those “med breaks” came on the day before he started back to school.

Adoption Closed in Vietnam, Time Running out for Adoption Cases Stuck in Guatemala, Hope for Ethiopian Children with HIV

LisaS — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:43:37 -0500

It seems like just yesterday that adoption from Vietnam reopened and families were eagerly anticipating the day they could bring home children to love and parent. In 2007, 828 children were adopted from Vietnam and in 2006, 163, after adoptions from Vietnam were closed between 2004-5. But now the adoption agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam has expired, and the program closed indefinitely because of an inability to resolve disagreements over fraud and corruption. When adoptions reopened in 2006, immoral and greedy people eager to make fast money attached themselves to the adoption process in Vietnam, apparently abducting children who were not available for adoption. Now approximately 1700 American families are left in limbo, even though Vietnamese officials claim they will complete the adoptions of families who are already matched with a child.

Of course, the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater, because there is no shortage of children in Vietnam needing homes. But this is the way it always happens in the intercountry adoption world - reforms cannot seem to be made without stopping the process, at the price of making children suffer. Adoption from Vietnam did not create orphans; there have always been orphans in Vietnam who need forever families. But officials in third world countries have a hard time curbing corruption, and with no organizations like UNICEF willing to help facilitate transparent adoptions, ultimately the door to adoption closes.

Trauma Tuesday: Panic Attacks and the Adopted Child

FaithA — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:45:02 -0500

If you are parenting a traumatized adopted child, you might have to deal with panic attacks. Panic attacks can be scary to observe (and experience) if you do not know what is going on. However, panic attacks are actually a positive coping skill. A panic attack helps the traumatized adopted child to manage overwhelming anxiety.

I used to be plagued with panic attacks before healing from my history of child abuse. I reached the place where I could feel one coming on and hold it back until I could be alone in my room.

I would lie in my bed, and the shaking would begin. It would start with my head and move down to my entire body. My body would jerk so violently that my headboard would thump against the wall and disturb everyone in the house. It would get harder and harder until it felt like my body was going into convulsions.

I would hyperventilate while my body shook.

Nesting Instincts

GuestBlogger — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:34 -0500

Hanna is 24 and has been working with children since she was a child. She and her husband have been married for seven years and she recently finished a BS in Early Childhood Development. Her husband is a computer guru who has a gift for working with troubled kids. They are currently in the process of getting licensed for foster care and being placed with an 11 year old girl, whom they are planning to adopt.

The ironic thing is that when you get married at 17 many people assume that there is a baby involved. Seven years later, we are one of the last couples we know who do not have at least one child. I found out yesterday that one of my best friends from high school and his wife are expecting their first child, after only being married one year. Last week I found out that my stepbrother and his new bride got pregnant on their honeymoon at the beginning of July. I wish I knew how to be happy for them. I wish I knew how to keep these announcements from sending me into a whirlwind of emotions that I can’t do anything about, except pray…a lot.

My husband can’t quite understand why doing foster care is so important to me. I try to tell him that these feelings, these instincts are just sitting there, driving me crazy, and that my motherliness has to get out somehow. He still doesn’t and probably never will understand, but he understands that it is something I need to do, and at least he recognizes that these kids need his love as well.

Nesting Instincts

GuestBlogger — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:34 -0500