The training manual is now available! It is the twin to Understanding the Trauma of Institutionalised Children. To support the child you adopt, which I published in September last year. That was a book written for adoptive parents caring or planning to care for a child coming from an institution. The book gave information about how institutionalisation affects brain development and the stress response system, what the effects of that are and how parents can support the child to overcome challenging behaviour and developmental delays as much as possible. This information is not only applicable to children who are adopted from institutions. It applies to all children who are moved from institutions to families. That is why, even before the ‘adoption version’ came out, I had started work on adapting the same basic content to a different audience.
Continue reading “Training Manual for Case Workers”Tag: #reintegration
A Story for Christmas
Today’s blog is not a Christmas story. However, Christmas is a time for storytelling, and also a time to contemplate how things may not always be what they seem. And so I want to share a story with you about a girl whom I have known for some time and about what happened to her over the past few months.
Continue reading “A Story for Christmas”Reunion versus Reintegration
When talking about children leaving institutions (or other alternative care placements) and going to live with their own family again two words are generally used: reuniting with the family and reintegrating into the family. These terms have been used before in the blogs as well, particularly with regards to children suddenly being returned to their families during pandemic lockdowns. Some people use these two words as if they mean the same thing but they do not. It is very important – particularly to the children – to understand the difference between the two.
Continue reading “Reunion versus Reintegration”The Push and the Gap in India
This year marks ten years since I first travelled to India and got involved in alternative care there. As I am about to travel to India again next week, it seems like a fitting moment to contemplate the changes in attitude and approach to alternative care that I have witnessed over that time.
Continue reading “The Push and the Gap in India”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”