This guide is designed to help adoptive families apply for adoption assistance after the legalization of their child’s adoption and to receive retroactive adoption assistance payments, regardless of the family’s state of residence. It provides a detailed description of the entire application process including how to establish eligibility. The book reviews the recent changes in federal policies that provide opportunities for adoptive families who are struggling to meet the medical and psychological needs of their children.

From the Author of Raising Children Who Refuse to Be Raised and Traumatic Experience and the Brain comes this third book in the difficult children trilogy. For more than 30 years, Dr. Dave Ziegler has been a psychologist, therapist, and foster parent to hundreds of the most challenging children. His methods have helped these “impossible” children—and their parents, teachers, and caregivers—to get back on the right track. He has done what many therapists don’t know how to do: help to raise troubled youths, who are the exceptions to all the usual rules, into healthy, successful human beings. This book emphasizes an important element of being successful with difficult children hope. The repeated message is not only that success is possible, but also that it is realistically achievable. However, success comes only with the right type of hard work combined with a deep understanding of what troubled children need. If success with your child is escaping your grasp, you’ll find some help in these pages.

From the Dust Jacket: “Our vision is to take in children who are broken physically and spiritually, to heal them physically and spiritually, and introduce them to the God we know,” Patty Anglin says. It’s a commitment that many parents would be afraid to make. The demands of eight special-needs children seem overwhelming when compared to one couple’s limited time and financial resources.

But Patty and Harold no longer wonder how they’ll overcome the next set of obstacles. They’ve proved, over and over again, that God’s grace and power can overcome the most trying circumstances. He has never failed them as they have opened their arms to special-needs children—the abused, the seriously ill, the physically handicapped. God has faithfully supplied all their needs. And the children have flourished in the warmth and love of their Christ-centered home.

Each of the children is a miraculous testimony of God’s faithfulness, love, and transforming power. One baby was found nearly frozen in a dumpster. Another was rescued from the gutters of Calcutta by Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Mercy. All of them faced a future of pain, abuse, neglect—and possibly death. But God had a better plan. A plan for a future of love, healing, and hope. Their powerful stories will convince you that nothing is impossible for our loving heavenly Father.

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About the Author (from the Back Cover): Patty and Harold Anglin reach out to one person—one needy, defenseless child—at a time. But one is never enough. The Anglins, who already have a large family of seven biological children, have spread God’s compassion by adopting eight children with special needs.

Why would anyone take on such a huge responsibility? “There is a need,” Patty explains. “There is a big need for it.” The Anglins had opened their hearts and home to dozens of foster children. Then they really stepped out in faith—and made a commitment to adopt the children that no one else would take.

God honored their vision and gave them a house full of miracle children. They’ve come from as far away as India and Nigeria. Their ages and skin color vary, and some have severe physical challenges. But all of them have found love, healing, and wholeness on the Anglins’ big Wisconsin farm named Acres of Hope.

Their heartwarming story overflows with love, triumph, and God’s surprising grace. Its unmistakable proof that even the worst tragedies can be overcome. You’ll find, as the Anglin children have, that no obstacle is too big for our all-powerful, all-loving, heavenly Father. And you’ll find inspiration to step out in faith and fulfill your own God-given calling.

This is the story of one couple’s time in China and the battle to adopt a Chinese orphan with cerebral palsy. It is also the story of how this little girl overcame so much to prove those who thought she would never be able to do anything wrong.

This booklet is a fact-filled resource for adoptive parents who have a child with trauma and attachment disruption experiences. Fraser provides tips and strategies that can be considered before placement as well as days, weeks, and months after your child joins your family. It addresses the day-to-day issues that new parents often get stuck on and provides info on the Four S’s parenting plan that she shares with families (safety, structure, supervision and support).

From the Dust Jacket: Tens of thousands of children in the United States alone are waiting in foster care for parents, and many Americans, single and married, want to open their hearts and homes to these children who wait. A landmark 1980 federal law made adopting and raising special needs children affordable even for people of limited means. What could be easier than matching these kids to these families? The reality is that many prospective adopters never complete the adoption process because of red tape, regulations, and institutional lethargy. Among the adults who complete a homestudy or placement, lack of support services and advocacy training sometimes leads to heartbreak and adoption failure—not a happy ending.

Adopting and Advocating for the Special Needs Child bridges the gap between the desire to help a waiting child and the reality of America’s special needs adoption system. It is designed to be used by adoption professionals and adoptive parents, to help them get started, keep going, and locate whatever additional information and support they need. The authors are adoption professionals, long-time support volunteers, child advocates, and mothers of a total of 23 children, 14 of them adopted children with special needs.

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About the Author: L. Anne Babb is Executive Director of a nonprofit adoption advocacy center, the Family Tree Adoption and Counseling Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Rita Laws is Director of the Oklahoma Chapter of Adopt a Special Kid (AASK) and representative to the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC).

Both authors received their M.S. degrees and Ph.D.s in psychology.

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By the Same Author: Ethics in American Adoption (1999).

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Compiler’s Note: The authors included both the Readers’ Guide to Adoption-Related Literature and the Compiler’s former computer bulletin board system, KinQuest BBS (on which the bibliography was accessible), in the book’s “Appendix: Resources,” under “Essential Publications for Special Needs Adoptive Parents” and “Online Only Resources,” respectively.

Carol Weishampel joyfully opens her heart and home to angelic-looking Darrell—a “shaken,” abused baby whose horrific injuries leave him blind and retarded. But adopting Darrell quickly becomes an hourly, uphill struggle, even for this seasoned mom and professional educator. This single parent and her other, subsequent adopted children literally are held hostage by Darrell’s violent temper tantrums and untrainable behavior. What difference can Weishampel possibly make in the life of this uncommunicative boy? What purpose do those such as Darrell have on earth? Weishampel’s poignant search to answer these and other profound questions leaves a helpful legacy of hope for anyone who has ever loved a special-needs or severely disabled child.

From the Back Cover: This is the first book to examine the special problems encountered by families who foster or adopt children who have been sexually abused.

Written primarily for social workers in adoption and fostering and for the substitute families themselves, the book sets out essential background information; how to recognise signs which may indicate sexual abuse; the particular difficulties of day to day living with abused children; and how substitute families tackled these challenging situations. Its approach is down-to-earth and practical and is based on extensive interviews with foster and adoptive families who have experienced these problems first hand.

Key topics include:

• recognising the signs of sexual abuse.

• the difficulties associated with re-parenting sexually abused children.

• helping children talk about their experiences.

• the impact on other children in the family.

• the trauma of allegations.

• the importance of adequate preparation and training for all substitute families.

• essential support services.

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About the Author: Catherine Macaskill is an independent social work consultant who has published extensively in the field of adoption and fostering.

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By the Same Author: Against the Odds: Adopting Mentally Handicapped Children (1985, BAAF) and Safe Contact?: Children in Permanent Placement and Contact with Their Birth Relatives (2002, Russell House Publishing).

From the Dust Jacket: Fewer and fewer families adopting today are able to bring home a healthy newborn infant. The majority of adoptions now involve emotionally wounded, older children who have suffered the effects of abuse or neglect in their birth families and carry complex baggage with them into their adoptive families. Adopting the Hurt Child addresses the frustrations, heartache, and hope surrounding the adoptions of these special-needs kids.

Children who have endured emotional and physical atrocities, failed reunifications, and myriad losses associated with multiple moves in the foster care system not only present unique challenges to their adoptive families but also impact greater society in significant ways. Integrating social, psychological, and sociopolitical issues, Adopting the Hurt Child explains how trauma and interruptions affect these children’s normal development and often severely undermine their capacity to function in a loving family and in society.

Written in a non-technical style accessible to a diverse audience, Adopting the Hurt Child brings to light grim truths, but also real hope that children who have been hurt-and often hurt others-can be healed and brought back into life by the adoptive and foster parents, therapists, teachers, social workers, and others whose lives intersect with theirs.

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About the Author: Gregory Keck, Ph.D. is the founder of the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio, which specializes in treating children who have experienced developmental interruptions. He and his staff also treat individuals and families who are experiencing a variety of problems in the areas of adoption, attachment, substance abuse, sexual abuse, and adolescent difficulties.

Regina M. Kupecky, LSW has worked in the adoption arena for over 20 years. She currently works with special-needs children at Northeast Ohio Adoption Services and is a cotherapist treating children with attachment disorders at the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio. In 1990, the Ohio Department of Human Services named her “Adoption Worker of the Year.”

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By the Same Authors: Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow (with Regina Kupecky; 2002, NavPress); Parenting Adopted Adolescents: Understanding and Appreciating Their Journeys (2009, NavPress); and Keeping Your Adoptive Family Strong: Strategies for Success (L. Gianforte; 2015, Jessica Kingsley), among others.

From the Back Cover: This is a book of real life stories of adopters which takes the reader through every stage of the adoption process starting with the moment when they decide that adoption is the right option for them to the stories of the adoptees themselves. In between, the book looks at all the different types of adoption that are carried out by all sorts of families of all sorts of children of every race and age and with every kind of problem. They range from babies who are only days old to teenagers with a multitude of psychological and physical problems. The book looks at both the success and failure of these adoptions.

The book’s aim is to inform and enlighten professionals, adopters, potential adopters and all those whose lives have in some way been touched by adoption or want to know more about it. In 16 chapters it includes more than 70 real life stories which are all told from the heart sometimes in a moment of crisis and sometimes at a time of joy. They are not analysed, they are true stories about how it feels to be at the centre of adoption. Recounted over the past 10 years, they are reflective of adoption today in Britain.

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About the Author: Ann Morris is a journalist, magazine editor and media consultant, and has written a wide range of articles on adoption.

Adoption subsidies provide financial assistance, medical coverage and support services to families adopting special-needs children. These subsidy programs serve two related purposes: first, to increase adoptions by removing financial barriers for prospective parents and second, to help sustain adoptive families who experience unexpected needs that are not evident at the time of adoption. Adoption Subsidy covers both federal programs, including Title IV-E and SSI, and state programs. It gives detailed information on how to negotiate a subsidy agreement, appeal a decision, apply for retroactive payments after a final adoption decree, and respond to critics of subsidy programs. It also includes tables to use in calculating subsidy amounts.

This training manual helps adoptive families prepare for the challenges of parenting sexually abused children, teaching them how to integrate the adoptee successfully into their own family system and including advice on the management of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Adoptive Parent Intentional Parent: A Formula for Building and Maintaining Your Child’s Safety Net is an invaluable tool that adoptive parents will use over and over again. Whether you are in the “waiting stage” or you are two, four, six, or even ten plus years into your adoption ... this book will to enable you to reframe your situation with a clear vision, new knowledge, tools that work, and the support of others who have walked the path before you. Every child who has been adopted has suffered a breech in attachment; no adopted child is exempt. In addition to attachment issues, some children also suffer with difficult behavior issues amongst diagnoses such as RAD, FAS, and those that suffer with grief, anxiety, sensory issues and the effects of trauma. The author’s breakthrough concept of intentionally creating a safety net to help your child heal fills the book’s entirety. The four-part formula for building and maintaining that safety net is laid out in a detailed and user-friendly fashion. It combines the value of knowing yourself, the power of knowledge, specific tools and techniques that work in everyday life and the keys to maintaining the net over time to create a plan you can put into motion today.

From the Dust Jacket: Are you in the process of adoption? Do you know a family that has adopted a child? In After the Adoption, Elizabeth Hormann shows how to nurture relationships in the adoptive family. Writing from experience, she helps you and your family bond intimately with your child. She highlights the joys of adopting children at various ages and prepares you for possible problems. This insightful book carefully considers aspects of adopting children at every age from infancy through the teen years. Among the topics discussed are:

• meeting the emotional needs of children at various age levels

• understanding how you form attachments

• preparing your immediate and extended family for accepting a new child

• adapting to special adoptions, such as interracial, international, and sibling groups

• caring for your handicapped child

• the pros and cons of private and agency adoptions

Elizabeth Hormann shows how to create ties of love that are strong enough to withstand the pressures of adjustment. Her practical, creative guidelines will encourage every member of the family to reach out in love to the adopted child. After the Adoption will help parents, grandparents, social workers, therapists, and pastoral counselors build loving relationships with adopted children.

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About the Author: Elizabeth Hormann, a graduate of Boston College, received her Ed.M. from Harvard University. She writes extensively for magazines. A single parent, she lives with her four “homemade” children and one adopted child in Germany.

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By the Same Author: Breastfeeding an Adopted Baby and Relactation (2007, La Leche League International).

Presents the results and conclusions of a study of twenty families who adopted one or more mentally handicapped children, conducted by the author for a MSc Degree at the Department of Social Policy, Cranfield Institute of Technology, Bedforshire.

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By the Same Author: Adopting or Fostering a Sexually Abused Child (1991, BT Batsford) and Safe Contact?: Children in Permanent Placement and Contact with Their Birth Relatives (2002, Russell House Publishing).

From the Dust Jacket: This is the story of Jon and Michael Galluccio, two gay men living in New Jersey, who become foster parents to Adam, a premature baby born with the AIDS virus and addicted to crack, heroin, marijuana, and alcohol. While nursing Adam through the many medical emergencies of his first year and surviving the daily dramas that all new parents go through, they realize that this child, their son, could be taken back from them at any time by the state, and they decide to try to legally adopt him together. Refused by the state—even as it asks them to care for another at-risk infant—they decide to fight for their son in the courts, and win, setting a precedent for all unmarried couples in New Jersey.

Soon Adam has a younger sister, Madison, and eventually Madison’s half-sister, a teenager named Rosa, who has lived most of her life in a group home, joins the Galluccio family. And in the midst of all this, Jon, himself an adopted child, decides to embark on a search for his own birth mother.

This heartwarming story shows that the American family is vibrantly alive and extending itself in remarkable new directions.

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About the Author: Jon and Michael Galluccio live in Paterson, New Jersey, with their three children, Adam, Madison, and Rosa. Their story has been widely followed in the press, with reports in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and NBC and CBS News.

David Groff is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Men on Men 2 and Men on Men 2000 fiction anthologies, as well as in Out magazine, Poetry, New York magazine, POZ, and other periodicals. He is the editor of Out Facts and Whitman’s Men, and co-author with the late Robin Hardy of The Crisis of Desire: AIDS and the Fate of Gay Brotherhood. He lives in New York City.

From the Back Cover: The mantra that “every child deserves to live with a family, to love and be loved” guided Marie Spiess and her family to make the decision to adopt a child with special needs from China.

With fate on their side, the Spiess family was offered the chance of a lifetime—they were given an opportunity to make Zhuge Juanzi, a little girl born with a cleft lip and palate half way around the world, their daughter and sister. At just eleven months younger than the family’s youngest son, she helped make an otherwise perfect family extraordinary. Such grace, however, did not come easy. In this brutally candid memoir of adoption, a mother reflects on the journey of adopting a child with special needs. Spiess answers questions, offers guidance, and ultimately tells readers to hold on and expect the unexpected. For families considering the adoption of a child with special needs, here’s an insider’s account—and a loving reflection of what it took to fulfill one mother’s dream.

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About the Author: Marie Spiess is a surgical physician assistant living in rural Michigan. She is a mother of three children, through birth and adoption. She enjoys spending time with her busy family and is also a member of Families with Children from China. Anything But Easy is her first book.

Her story begins not with her children but with her own childhood spent traveling the country in the backseat of her parents’ car (her perpetually restless dad had post-traumatic stress disorder from WWII), often with very little money and few provisions. Where someone else might have seen deprivation and isolation, Petersen viewed her unusual childhood with a sense of wonder and gratitude. After marrying young and giving birth to a son who was legally blind (and who went on to earn a PhD on full scholarship), Petersen and her husband adopted four more special needs children and fostered many others. Each child has their own special story about overcoming tremendous physical and emotional difficulties in order to be able to succeed and enjoy life. Her honesty, wit, and terrific storytelling make this a book you want to read rather than one you feel you should read.

Come along with Hector and Sue Badeau on their ultimate road trip—adopting and raising 22 children, from diverse backgrounds with many special needs. Like any road trip, their story has twists and turns, detours and surprises. You’ll be inspired, laugh out loud and shed tears as you share their experiences in foster care and adoption, coping with teenage pregnancies, addictions, unimaginable accomplishments and raw moments of grief after the untimely deaths of three beloved sons. Are We There Yet is an entertaining story which also imparts nuggets of parenting wisdom for any parent or grandparent. It is packed with spiritual truths and life lessons for teachers, social workers, pastors and others who care about vulnerable children and families in our world today.

This is a true story. Rebecca Wright and her partner, John, adopted a young child. It wasn’t until later that they discovered just how needy he was and how their love and commitment to him would change his life. The strength they show in going through the complex process of helping Sam, who has attachment disorder, to grow into a rounded human being, will be an inspiration to anyone caring for children with problems, behavioural or emotional. Their story is funny, sad, angry, grateful and relieved in turns—the emotional roller coaster experienced by anyone dealing with child psychiatrists, educational psychologists, the state school system and social work departments. Rebecca understates the difficulties of a life totally focused on a very demanding child, bringing out instead the many positive rewards of life with Sam. The Back to Front Boy will inspire, challenge and comfort many about to adopt, considering adoption, or already parenting a difficult child. You are not alone. In their search for help and understanding, Rebecca, John and Sam have forged a family unit of incredible strength through the practice and discipline of love—the real thing.

So many of our fondest dreams turn into nightmares. When Sandra and Mert Vincent adopted one-year-old Noreen, their lives were disrupted in ways they could never have imagined. Was she merely a spoiled child? Or were her hyperactivity and uncontrollable behavior caused by deeper physical problems? Read this touching story to discover how, “in His time,” God answered the prayers of a desperate woman and the needs of a troubled child. Share Sandra’s tears of joy as she listens to Noreen’s letter of thanks during “Parent Recognition” at academy graduation.

Follow Michael Sansone through his battle with Reactive Attachment Disorder as a child. Learn more about Reactive Attachment Disorder, its debilitating effects and the social stigmatization that follows in its wake. This book is the first of its kind to describe in frightening personal details of abuses, hospitalizations, shattered family members, animal killings, fire starting and chemical dependency associated with Reactive Attachment Disorder. Written from the first perspective this powerful and emotionally charged book will take the reader on a journey of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Read about the telltale signatures of R.A.D. as Michael slowly disintegrates into depression and madness as a child. This book is highly recommended for those that are raising children with R.A.D., Residential treatment centers, clinicians and psychotherapists. It will provide insight through 1st perspective self destruction as Michael grows older and more distant from those close to him. The powerful ending to this book will provide a platform of hope and understanding for those suffering with Reactive Attachment Disorder.

From the Publisher: James was desperately in need of a family. His life so far had been traumatic. Neglected and abused by his birth parents, separated from his brother and with a string of foster homes, institutional stays and a failed adoption, James had grown into an anti-social ten-year-old at war with the world. His social workers were beginning to wonder if they would ever be able to find a family for their damaged young charge. The Brown family felt it was time to expand their family. For months they had participating in the preparation required for a permanent adoption placement. The social workers running the Special Needs Adoption Program pulled no punches. It was going to take a lot of skill, patience and flexibility to cope with one of their damaged children. The Brown family believed they were up to the challenge.

From the Back Cover: “I didn’t even know, then, that I was capable of doing what I’ve done... But for Tsbakua I found all the love that was in me. I’ve grown fonder of him than of my own child, than of anyone else in the world, and I’ve fought for him every day of my life...”

In 1983,Thérèse Muamini’s life is changed forever. An African woman working as a cleaner in Paris, she is visited by a friend and her baby son from their home village in Rwanda. The friend is suddenly taken ill and dies of a little known disease the doctors call AIDS. Thérèse adopts the boy, Tshakua, who is diagnosed HIV positive. Undaunted she begins the long and arduous fight to forge a life for them.

What is she to do alone in Paris, with nowhere to live, no money, and a little boy whose condition fills people with fear?

Thérèse shows the blind courage, stubborn resilience, self-sacrifice and extraordinary love that only a mother can know. Driven by these instincts and her unshakeable faith, Thérèse overcomes all obstacles to protect and care for him on her terms, for better or worse.

Told in simple words with an unflinching honesty, this is a mother’s story, and a wonderful affirmation of the strength of human love.

Liz Kulp, as a young teen with Fetal Alcohol Effects challenged the world to peer inside her life and brain. Through her own writings the reader is taken on a life-changing journey that will impact their thinking about how to help and understand children with brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol. “Mom, I want to write a book about what it’s like to have FAS/E (fetal alcohol syndrome/effects) I think people need to know.” And so began Liz’s and my journey in writing The Best I Can Be: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Effects. Liz was right, it was a story that needed to be told. Fetal Alcohol Exposure is a leading cause of cognitive challenges and intellectual disability in the western world. It is estimated that one out of 10,000 children born each year in the United States as FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) and one out of 100 have FAE (fetal alcohol effects). Research and experience has proven one label is not better or worse than the other. Over tens of thousands of newborn U.S. children each year will have to learn to cope with this disability. It is time to come out of denial—alcohol consumption during pregnancy is not safe. Let Liz take you on our journey—it is a journey of hope, of dedication and of perseverance.

From the Publisher: Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control covers in detail the effects of trauma on the body-mind and how trauma alters children’s behavioral responses. The first four chapters help parents and professionals clearly understand the neurological research behind the basic model given in this book, deemed, “The Stress Model.” While scientifically based in research, it is written in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-grasp format for anyone working with or parenting children with severe behaviors. The next seven chapters are individually devoted to seven behaviors typically seen with attachment-challenged children. These include lying, stealing, hoarding and gorging, aggression, defiance, lack of eye contact, and yes, even a chapter that talks candidly about how parents appear hostile and angry when they work to simply maintain their families from reaching complete states of chaos. Each of these chapters talks in depth on these specific behaviors and gives vivid and contrasting examples of how this love-based approach works to foster healing and works to develop relationships, as opposed to the fear-based traditional attachment parenting approaches that are being advocated in today’s attachment field. The authors end with a Parenting Bonus Section. True testimonials from parents who have been able to make significant changes in their homes with this model of parenting, giving real-life examples of how they have been able to find the healing, peace, and love that they had been seeking prior to working through the techniques outlined in this book.

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About the Author: Heather Forbes, LCSW, is co-founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC. Ms. Forbes has been training in the field of attachment and trauma with nationally recognized, first-generation attachment therapists since 1999. She has been active in the field of adoption with experience ranging from pre-adoption to post-adoption work, including domestic and international adoptions. Ms. Forbes is a published author and presents workshops both nationally and throughout the State of Florida. Much of her experience and insight on understanding trauma, disruptive behaviors, and adoption-related issues has come from her direct mothering experience of her two adopted children. She has a passion for helping families to find the peace in their homes that they deserve.

B. Bryan Post, Ph.D., LCSW is the founder of the Post Institute for Family-Centered Therapy based in Oklahoma and co-founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC. Dr. Post is the author of For All Things a Season, Dr. Post’s New Family Revolution System, and co-author of “The Forever Child” series. He is an internationally recognized specialist in the treatment of emotional and behavioral disturbance in children and families. Dr. Post specializes in a holistic family-based treatment approach that addresses the underlying interactive dynamics of the entire family, a neurophysiologic process he refers to as, “The secret life of the family.” As an adopted, and well-known disruptive child himself (“I’ve set fires, killed animals, and stolen compulsively.”), Dr. Post has made it his primary work to speak to parents and professionals from a perspective of true-life experience and in-the-trenches therapeutic work.

From the Publisher: We are living in one of the most stressful times in human history. This abundance of stress is impacting families and in many cases, manifesting itself in children with difficult and severe behaviors. Homes often turn into intense fighting grounds of power struggles and control battles parents find themselves in us against them scenarios with their children. Tension continually builds and before long, parents are feeling completely overwhelmed, powerless, and resentful of their children. As parents implement traditional parenting techniques, parenting in a way that most parenting books recommend, they find their situations becoming worse, not better as promised these resources. It doesn’t have to be this way! Heather T. Forbes, LCSW, offers families a new view to parenting children with difficult and severe behaviors. As a parent herself who experienced dark days (and years) following the adoption of her two children, she offers a ground-breaking approach to parenting that shows parents a proven way to develop strong and loving relationships with their children.

In her new book, Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control: A Love Based Approach to Helping Children with Severe Behaviors, Volume 2, Heather offers practical and effective solutions based in scientific research, coupled with professional and personal experience. She is a master at bridging the gap between academic research and real life when the rubber hits the road parenting. This book is written in an easy to understand and easy to grasp format for anyone working with or parenting children with difficult or severe behaviors. The first six chapters discuss the principles of her love-based parenting paradigm. A new understanding of why traditional parenting techniques are ineffective with children with difficult behaviors is given, along with clear and concise explanations of the science behind trauma and negative early life experiences. The next seven chapters address specific behaviors, including poor social skills, homework battles, demanding behaviors, self-injury, defensive attitudes, no conscience, and chores. Each chapter gives specific examples of how to implement her parenting principles, empowering parents to make amazing and permanent changes in their homes. All the examples given throughout these chapters are true stories provided by parents who read and implemented her first book, Volume 1. The book ends with a parenting bonus section where more real-life stories from real-life parents with real-life children are given. These examples range in the spectrum of the ages of the children and a variety of behavioral issues. This book offers hope and healing. It goes beyond just changing a child’s behaviors but goes to the level of healing for all family members. This book has the power to literally change families for life and to help families find the peace in their homes that they dreamed of from the beginning—and the peace they deserve!

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About the Author: Heather Forbes, LCSW, is co-founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC. Ms. Forbes has been training in the field of attachment and trauma with nationally recognized, first-generation attachment therapists since 1999. She has been active in the field of adoption with experience ranging from pre-adoption to post-adoption work, including domestic and international adoptions. Ms. Forbes is a published author and presents workshops both nationally and throughout the State of Florida. Much of her experience and insight on understanding trauma, disruptive behaviors, and adoption-related issues has come from her direct mothering experience of her two adopted children. She has a passion for helping families to find the peace in their homes that they deserve.

B. Bryan Post, Ph.D., LCSW is the founder of the Post Institute for Family-Centered Therapy based in Oklahoma and co-founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC. Dr. Post is the author of For All Things a Season, Dr. Post’s New Family Revolution System, and co-author of “The Forever Child” series. He is an internationally recognized specialist in the treatment of emotional and behavioral disturbance in children and families. Dr. Post specializes in a holistic family-based treatment approach that addresses the underlying interactive dynamics of the entire family, a neurophysiologic process he refers to as, “The secret life of the family.” As an adopted, and well-known disruptive child himself (“I’ve set fires, killed animals, and stolen compulsively.”), Dr. Post has made it his primary work to speak to parents and professionals from a perspective of true-life experience and in-the-trenches therapeutic work.