Understanding the Trauma of Institutionalised Children

The moment has finally come! I started working on the first draft of this book late 2019. A combination of it just being a whole lot of work, having other work to take care of, and some pandemic related delays caused it to take almost three years in the end. But it is here now.

Understanding the Trauma of Institutionalised Children was written to help people who adopt a child from an institution. Most people are not aware of how significant the impact of institutionalisation is on children, and therefore they are not prepared for the behaviour and responses they can expect when they bring a previously institutionalised child into their home. Being unprepared for this makes it very challenging and can make adoptive parents despair.

This is why I feel it is so important to give these parents the information they need to understand where the behaviour and responses come from and how to respond to them in a way that is supportive.

The subject of the trauma of institutionalised children and its consequences is very complicated. This is why the book has a careful build-up to gradually increase knowledge and insight, which are needed to understand where certain reactions and behaviours come from and why certain ways of dealing with them are more likely to be effective. This build-up starts with Part I, giving information to help develop realistic expectations for the child’s progress, and explaining the physiological development and processes involved. Part II discusses how care in an institution is different from care in a family and the effects that this has on a child’s development, looking particularly at attachment, physical contact, attention, stimulation, growing up in isolation from the community, and things that children in institutions are at higher risk for. Part III discusses the challenges caused by the deprivation of normal development opportunities, including attachment disorders, challenging behaviour, self-harming, and health issues. Finally, Part IV looks at some of the approaches that are useful to help children overcome or deal with the consequences of having lived in an institution. Particularly with regard to building a connection and relationship with the child, building trust and a feeling of safety, developing ways to communicate effectively, and handling challenging behaviour, including how discipline can be used effectively.

I have been very impatient to see this book become public, finally. There continues to be very limited awareness – even among professionals – of just how big the impact of institutionalisation is on children and of how essential it is that families who take in a child from an institution are informed about what this means. I have felt at a loss not having this available to me yet.

And my work is not done. This is the first version of the book, written to address adoptive parents, in the expectation that they will read the book themselves. However, adoptive parents are not the only ones taking in children from institutions. As care reform gathers pace, children are returned to their own families, and are placed in kinship care or in foster care. Not all of these families are in a position to read a book like this themselves. So, at the moment I am busy adapting the same basic content to be used as a training guide for social workers who work with children in institutions and the families where they will be placed. The social workers can use the information provided in the book to inform their case management decisions, and to provide training to the families on what they can expect. I am hoping to be able to make the second version of the book available at the end of this year or early next year.

You can order the adoption version HERE, now.

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