Skip to content
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL DOMESTIC ORDERS $35+
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL US ORDERS $35+
The Adoptive Parents' Handbook: A Guide to Healing Trauma and Thriving with Your Foster or Adopted Child - Paperback | Diverse Reads

The Adoptive Parents' Handbook: A Guide to Healing Trauma and Thriving with Your Foster or Adopted Child

Availability:
Only 5 left!
Save 5% Save 5%
$19.95
$19.95 - $19.95
$19.95
$18.99
$18.99 - $18.99
$18.99
The essential guide to parenting adopted and foster kids—learn to create felt safety, heal attachment trauma, and navigate challenging behaviors and triggers

Children who have been adopted and/or shuttled through the foster-care system experience trauma at a much higher rate than other kids, which can make it difficult for them to trust, relax, regulate their emotions, and connect with their new families. As a parent, learning how to heal attachment trauma, attune to your child's needs, identify triggers, and create felt safety is essential to providing the loving, supportive, and stable home they need to thrive.

Written for parents of adopted and foster kids of all ages, this book offers resources for handling common concerns like sleep issues, food sensitivities, anger, fear, and reactivity. It also provides guidance on navigating transracial adoptions, working through parents' own hang-ups, and recognizing signs of developmental and psychological conditions. The book highlights practical strategies and provides real-life examples to address questions like:
  • How do I help my adopted child adjust?
  • Is this kind of behavior "normal"?
  • How do I help my child live, heal, and thrive with PTSD?
    •

    ISBN-13: 9781623175153

    Media Type: Paperback

    Publisher: North Atlantic Books

    Publication Date: 09-01-2020

    Pages: 352

    Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

    BARBARA CUMMINS TANTRUM, MA, LMHC, is trained and experienced in trauma-informed therapy. This includes working with children, adoptive and foster families, adult survivors of trauma and abuse, and marital couples. She is a cofounder of Northwest Trauma Counseling, a Washington State-based private practice specializing in trauma related to adoption and foster care, and author of their PATCH Protocol, a trauma-informed model therapy approach focused specifically on addressing trauma-related issues. A graduate of the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with a master's degree in Counseling Psychology, she conducts training sessions regularly for groups, including social workers, teachers, adoptive and foster parents, and other support groups. In her personal life, Tantrum is herself a foster and adoptive mother and sister. This is her first book.

    Table of Contents

    Foreword xi

    Preface xiii

    Part 1 Creating Felt Safety

    1 Origins 3

    2 Trauma: How a Gastroenterologist Changed How the World Thinks about Trauma 9

    3 Infant Trauma 21

    4 PTSD and Fight, Flight, and Freeze 29

    5 Olympic-Level Self-Care 41

    6 Attachment 51

    7 Healing Attachment Damage 59

    8 Good Discipline Strategies 71

    9 Routines and Rituals 85

    Part 2 Emotional Regulation

    10 Adoption (or Placement) Stages: How Children Grieve 93

    11 Attunement and Manipulation: All Behavior Communicates 101

    12 Reflective Listening and Emotional Modeling 109

    13 Sensory Success 115

    Part 3 Identity

    14 Transracial and Transethnic Adoption 127

    15 Older Child Adoption 151

    16 Working with Birth Family 157

    17 Talking with Your Child about Adoption 161

    18 Lifebooks: Not just for the Crafty 165

    Part 4 Living and Thriving with PTSD

    19 The Child You Have 175

    20 Sleep and Food Strategies 193

    21 How to Choose the Right Therapist 199

    22 Working with Schools 213

    23 PTSD and Medical Care 221

    24 Siblings 229

    25 Lying and Stealing 233

    26 When It's More Than PTSD: ADHD, FASD, Autism 239

    27 While You Are Waiting and the First Few Months 251

    28 Foster Care: Licensed to Parent 259

    29 When Things Are Really Hard 267

    30 Leaving Home 273

    31 Troubleshooting: The Q and A Section 279

    Book List 291

    Movie List 293

    Glossary 297

    Notes 305

    Bibliography 317

    Index 327

    About the Author 333