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Welcome to the Attach-China/International Parent's Network,
a website devoted to educating parents of internationally adopted children about post-adoption issues, especially those related to Reactive Attachment Disorder and Trauma

There is an e-mail list for parents whose children are experiencing attachment and / or trauma problems. Parents who have adopted internationally as well as domestically are welcome to join. Please note: it is not open to waiting families. If you would like to subscribe, click below.

Click here to join Attach-China/International
Click to join Attach-China/International

The families on the Attach-China/International e-mail listserv have come together to share our personal experiences. It is our hope that adoptive families, prospective families and adoption professionals will gain insight into how attachment and trauma issues present themselves in children adopted from China, Russia, Korea and other countries. It is our observation that because of the (mostly younger) age of our children at the time of their adoption and the special circumstances of their abandonment and life in an orphanage or foster home, and then subsequent adoption into a loving home, their symptoms and disorders may manifest differently than those of a child who has been through the domestic foster/adoption system. However, much of the information about attachment and trauma applies to children who have been adopted domestically, especially if there has been abuse or neglect in one or more homes.

If you are an adoptive parent, we hope this information will help you determine whether or not your child needs help. If you are a prospective adoptive parent, we want to give you a realistic view of what it is like to parent a child who has suffered as a result of her pre-adoption childhood. If you are an adoption professional, please use this website as a resource for clients and staff to help parents be fully prepared in caring for their precious children.

One of the main observations we hear from new members who are just starting to recognize attachment as an issue is that their doctors, teachers, early intervention therapists, friends, extended family and sometimes even spouses do not see or recognize the problems a parent can notice in their child. When reaching out for help, parents are often told to "stop worrying, your child just needs time to adjust" or "it's a typical childhood phase" or "she'll grow out of it." This leaves the parents feeling like they are both crazy and incompetent.

If you have a gut feeling that something is 'not right' the best gift you can give your child is to find out what the problem is and how to treat it. Many members here have learned the hard way that if left untreated, relatively mild attachment issues do not go away. They re-appear a few years later, in much more difficult forms.

This website was put together primarily so that new families will not have to suffer what many of us suffered while trying to get the help and support we needed in order to help our children. It is important to remember that we cannot be held responsible for what happened to our children before we adopted them, but we owe it to them, as their parents, to help them heal.

Disclaimer

This Attach-China/International Parents Network was founded by a parent for parents of children adopted from China, Russia, Korea and other countries, who have adoption, trauma and/or attachment issues, as a resource for these issues. The content selected for the website is intended to share information about various therapies, and although certain articles speak to the success some families have had with those therapies, the website is not intended as an endorsement of any particular therapeutic course of treatment.

Families with children with possible trauma and attachment issues are urged to seek medical advice. If a family begins a therapy without medical advice, they do so at their own risk. Children may have unusual or unique reactions to various types of therapies and "one-size-does-not-fit-all" when dealing with these issues.

The Attach-China/International website was created by on October 15, 1999.
Updated May, 2014

© 2000 - 2014, all material on the Attach-China/International website; all rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the authors.

Contact Us: Lynne Lyon, LCSW

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Parent Coaching and Attachment Therapy via Skype or phone

Center for Attachment & Trauma Therapy

Lynne Lyon, LCSW

founder of
Attach-China/International

It's easy to get started. Call me at
(609) 217-2366
or
e-mail me.
I will respond within 24 hours

If you have found the information on this website helpful, please make a contribution to
Attach-China /
International.