Trauma Informed to Trauma Responsive Care
Loss hurts. Neglect and abuse cut deep. Early childhood trauma leaves lasting scars. Whether the baby in the womb adopted at birth, the 3-year-old being raised by grandparents, or the teenager in foster care, all children who have been separated from birth parents have experienced some level of trauma. As a result, these kids often face […]
Back To School Tips & Tricks
Back to School Parents may both cheer and dread these three words. Some feel hopeful about new beginnings, friendships, and learning. Others are anxious about learning struggles and loneliness. As parents of children who have experienced Complex Developmental Trauma, we have yet another layer to consider. Often, our children struggle with transitions. When our kids […]
Food Hoarding: Feasting on Control
Mirroring Each Other
Have you ever walked up to someone who was laughing really hard and you started laughing too, even though you didn’t know what that person was laughing about? Do you find yourself yawning when you see your child yawning? Have you found yourself cringing when you see someone getting hurt on a movie screen? There […]
The Responsibility of a Transracial Adoptive Parent
When I became an adoptive parent with my husband John, our four daughters became part of our new multiracial family. They received our last name, they gained many fun relatives, family traditions, and they will inherit our belongings and money when we die. Their personalities are, in part, shaped by the environment in our home […]
Staff Recommendations
These books cover challenging topics, so we encourage you to read them with your children, and discuss them. Ages 4-8 Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad Written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Scholastic Press Ella Queen of Jazz Written by Helen Hancocks, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books The Story […]
Strengthening Our Children’s Stories
“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” Jonathan Gottschall Stories. We love the stories we find in books and movies. We love the stories we find in books and movies. Our culture spends significant amounts of time […]
The Decade of Family
Remember when former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro declared the Decade of Downtown for San Antonio in 2010? What if we call it now? 2020 — the Decade of Family! Not original to me, but borrowed from a bold proclamation by Unicity, a movement to unite the city. What incredible progress has been made to revitalize […]
Wait Until January
Over 125,000 children in the United States are waiting to be adopted. National Adoption Day raises awareness so that those kiddos move from foster care to forever families. Judge Michael Nash of the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court was the inspiration for this awareness day, as he opened his court on Saturdays with volunteers […]
Adoption Granted! Now What?
Adoption is beautiful but it doesn’t end in the courtroom. Years of waiting, heartache, loss and wondering precedes adoption day. There are countless hours of planning, preparation and paperwork, but when the day finally arrives, it’s over in the blink of an eye. We applaud adoptive parents, but we don’t realize that when the papers are […]
No Replacements Necessary
“How would you feel if Grammy walked away from you? I feel like I wasn’t wanted.” This is what one of my daughters tearfully said to me about sixteen years after she was adopted. We were standing in our family room on the day of a school discussion that triggered big emotions. She was asking […]
Foster and Adoption: Language and Sharing Imperfections
BY STACI THOMAS The words we use have a tremendous impact on those around us. It’s crucial to choose our language carefully when speaking of adoption and foster children. We should strive to use phrases that reflect how deeply we care. This means we need to avoid words that cast judgment on the child, paint […]
