Trauma-Informed Resources:
Connected Parenting:
The Connected Child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family, by Dr. Karyn Purvis, David R. Cross 
Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family: Real-Life Solutions to Common Challenges, by David Sanford
Understanding Trauma and the Brain:
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. 
Consider Supporting Independent Bookshops and purchase your books through Biblio
Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma, by Peter Levine
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, by Judith Herman M.D.
Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship, by Laurence Heller, Ph.D.
Does My Child Have PTSD? What to do when your child is hurting from the inside out, by Jolene Philo
Resources for Attachment Issues:
Healing Parents: Helping Wounded Children Learn to Trust & Love, by Michael Orlans and Terry M. Levy
Resources for helping your child stay in control by giving them more control (Counterintuitive, yet effective, especially for trauma kiddos):
The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives, by William Stixrud Ph.D., and Ned Johnson
Crisis Resources
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1.800.273.8255
(A crisis chat feature is available from 2 pm to 2 am at Suicidepreventionlifeline.org)
Rape, Incest, Abuse National Network (RAINN) 1.800.656.HOPE
(Crisis chat feature available 24 hours a day on their website: RAINN.org)
Crisis Link Text Hotline
Twenty-four-hour crisis help by text message: CrisisLink.org/crisislinks-text-hotline
Resources for Spiritual Healing:
There is a very real spiritual component to fear, stress, and anxiety. This book will help you discover biblical truths to help your child and yourself live free from the fear that follows trauma:
A counter-intuitive but transformational book on the Power of Praise. Learn to be thankful for all things–the good, the bad, and the ugly– based on the Biblical truth that “all things work together for good”:
Power in Praise, by Merlin Carothers
Learn how to help your child find freedom from the spirits of rejection and abandonment that commonly torment children from hard places
Helpful Articles and Websites:
- “I know adoption by its less popular name and function: abandonment. Before I gained a family, I had to lose one.” -Mary San Agustin: As An International Adoptee, I Know the Dark Side of Adoption
- Adult Adoptee, parent trainer, and mother to both bio and adoptive children shares connected parenting strategies at The Cork Board she also runs a private Facebook group where you can connect with other parents and ask questions: Essentially Connected Parenting
- “Fostering abused, neglected, and vulnerable children is by nature reactionary – a necessary response to circumstances often requiring swift, immediate, and sometimes severe measures to protect the rights of the vulnerable. It is a good and right and just solution to a very real problem – but it is not the only solution, neither is it the ultimate one.” –Jason Johnson Blog, The Other Side of Foster Care
- How Secondary Trauma Affects Your Other Children
- 4 Types Of Trauma in Fostering and Adoption
- Attachment Issues Page written by a Mental Health Therapist
Helpful Books and Tools for Children:
Families Change: A Book for Children Experiencing Termination of Parental Rights, by Julie Nelson
Healing Days: A Guide for Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma, by Susan Farber Straus
What am I Feeling? by Dr. Josh Straub
Sensory Resources and Products:
Sensory TheraPLAY Box is the sensory toy subscription box designed for children with autism and those with sensory needs. Boxes are curated by a licensed occupational therapist and ship out the first week of each month.
