Creating a Family Adoption & Foster Care Education

We know attachment is important in adoption, but adoptive parents often wonder how to help build the bonds of attachment with their adopted kids. In this course, we interview Deborah Gray, adoption therapist, “attachment guru,"  and author of Attaching through Love, Hugs, and Play: Simple Strategies to Help Build Connections with Your Child and Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents, on practical and easy ways to build connection and attachment with your adopted kids.

This course covers the following topics:

• Why is attachment important to children and to parents?
• What’s a realistic estimate of how long it takes for a child and parent to attach strongly? What does it depend on?
• What does the term “emotional looping” mean?
• What are the foundations of attachment? Eye contact, cuddles, etc.
• Should parents worry if their child is rough and tumble all-boy who does not like to snuggle and cuddle?
• What is your opinion on re-introducing a bottle for feeding with an older adopted child?
• The importance of play in creating attachment in adoption.
• What specific games encourage bonding? Games by age group.
• How to balance the attachment and bonding activities/strategies when you have other kids in the house and/or you work?
• The importance of self-care for adoptive parents. How to balance self-care with the needs of newly adopted kids?
• Why are routines so important?
• Are adopted kids, especially those who have experienced prenatal alcohol or drug exposure, abuse or neglect, at greater risk for low “executive dysfunction”?
• Why is executive functioning important?
• What are some tricks and strategies parents can use every day to help improve their adopted child’s executive functioning?
• Why are our “stories” so important?
• Promoting attachment in tween and teens.

*Your course will remain active for 180 days from purchase date.