In the books ‘Understanding the Trauma of Institutionalised Children. To support the child you adopt’ and ‘Understanding the Trauma of Children from Institutions. A training manual for case workers’ I have given a pretty detailed overview of what is problematic about children growing up in institutions and how well-supported families can help children from institutions overcome the challenges that have developed.
Continue reading “Introductory Video of the Model of Understanding Trauma”Tag: #attachment
Good Addiction and Bad Addiction
As I gradually gained a more detailed understanding of the effects of institutionalisation on children and exactly how attachment works, I have started to realise that human beings are wired for addiction. It is part of our basic development and survival. When development happens the way it is supposed to, addiction is a great strength and support, it helps us survive. When it does not, it can become a major hurdle and can destroy us.
Continue reading “Good Addiction and Bad Addiction”Children in Foster Care and Lockdown
An interesting topic came up at a webinar on Children in Alternative Care I attended during the Eurochild Member Days in June: the effects of lockdown on children in foster care. In various countries, surveys have been held to find out how children in foster care were coping with the lockdown. Some of the results were expected, some less so.
Continue reading “Children in Foster Care and Lockdown”Bucharest Early Intervention Project
On the last day of the DI conference in Sofia, last month, we were treated to an amazing presentation by the three researchers who set up and are running the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. This is a longitudinal study done in Romania to compare the outcomes for 136 children who were placed in an institution and of whom half stayed in the institution – as they would have if the research project had not taken place – and half were placed in high quality foster care, set up by the research team. And in addition 72 children who grew up in their own families, having never been placed in care, were followed as a comparison group.
Continue reading “Bucharest Early Intervention Project”Helping Children Seek Help
One of the speakers at the DI conference, in Sofia at the start of the month, was Dr Peter Fuggle, director of clinical and service improvement at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in the UK. He talked about the Anna Freud Centre’s approach to helping children who have been institutionalised.
Continue reading “Helping Children Seek Help”Establishing Security for the Child
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about Sylvia Duncan’s presentation at the Trauma Informed Practice Conference in Birmingham in September, which you can find HERE. I mentioned how she pointed out the importance of not making false promises, in order to gain a child’s trust. I have realised that there is something else she mentioned that is important to share.
She spoke about how children who have not been able to form attachments when they were very young, and those whose trust has been broken to the point where they have lost any willingness to form new attachments, may be 7 or 8 years old, but in a lot of ways, emotionally, they function like babies. Because they have not had the opportunity to go through those early development stages yet, or they have regressed to before the stage where they went through that development.
Continue reading “Establishing Security for the Child”Podcast Attachment Disorder in Family Placement
The effects of institutionalisation do not necessarily disappear when a child is taken out of an institution and placed with a family. This makes it very important that parents who take in a child who has been institutionalised for some time – whether they are the child’s own parents, foster parents or adoptive parents – receive training and guidance to help cope with this.
In this month’s podcast the real story of a little girl who was adopted is told, to illustrate some of the problems that may arise.
Then next podcast will be posted in four weeks.
Please share this, to help spread awareness.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:22 — 23.0MB)
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Podcast Effects of Institutionalisation
This podcast tells the story of a little girl whose changing situation illustrates several of the effects of not having basic essential needs met.
If while listening to the podcast you wonder why for example the location is not mentioned, please listen to the first podcast, where these things are explained.
The next podcast will be posted in four weeks.
Please share the podcast to help raise awarenesss.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:17 — 20.6MB)
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Survival of the Fittest
In any institution I have visited, where children have lived for many years, in different countries across the world, I am told the same thing: ‘These children are badly behaved, rebellious, ungrateful, disrespectful and disobedient’. I am told this as if they are exceptional, particularly bad children. And I am asked to ‘make them behave better’.
It breaks my heart whenever I am told this, because the behaviour seen in these children is the natural and inevitable result of being raised without attention, affection, a chance to form attachments, proper stimulation and positive role models. As mentioned in the previous blog (which you find HERE), when essential basic needs are not met, brain development does not occur as it should and this causes problems. But also, very simply, there is no supervision or guidance for the children.
Continue reading “Survival of the Fittest”What Institutionalisation Does to Children
Many people consider institutionalisation of children not ideal, but still preferable to the alternatives. This is very unfortunate, and ultimately dangerous. Because it is one of the things that leads to institutionalisation. The reason why many people think institutionalisation is not so bad, is because they think that children’s basic needs are covered when they are put in an institution: they get food, clothes, shelter, they can wash themselves and most of the time they will get education too. The problem is that this covers only half of the basic needs. It covers what I tend to call the child’s practical needs, but not all of their physical and practically none of their psychological needs, which are just as urgent.
Continue reading “What Institutionalisation Does to Children”