Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children: Healing from Losses, Violence, Abuse, and Neglect

by Kagan; Richard

• ISBN13: 9780789015433
• ISBN10: 0789015439
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Learn to build the trust you need to help children in crisis! Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children: Healing from Losses, Violence, Abuse, and Neglect is a therapeutic guide to helping troubled children move beyond the traumatic experiences that haunt them. Author Dr. Richard Kagan, Director of Psychological Services for Parsons Child and Family Center in Albany, New York, presents comprehensive information on how to understand--and surmount--the impact of loss, neglect, separation, and violence on children's development, how to discover and foster strengths in children and their families, and how to rebuild connections and hope for children who are at risk of harm to themselves and others. This unique book is designed to be used in tandem with Real Life Heroes: A Life Storybook for Children (Haworth), an innovative workbook that helps children develop the self-esteem they need to overcome the worries and fears of their past through a creative arts approach that fosters positive values and a sense of pride. Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children helps children move from negative or suppressed memories to a more positive perspective, not by denying hardships, but by drawing strength from the supportive people in their lives. Practitioners can use the book as a framework and detailed guide to assessment, engagement, development of service plans, and implementation of attachment and trauma therapy. The book is a comprehensive model for working to build the trust necessary before other trauma therapy approaches can be successfully initiated. Topics examined in Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children include: attachment theory and research types of attachment problems PTSD behaviors permanency work with children in placement ADHD, bipolar, and RAD cognitive behavioral therapies storytelling therapies the myth of perfection neuropsychological patterns and much more! Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children is a rich resource for practitioners, academics, parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, grandparents, and anyone working to show troubled children how to learn from the past, resolve problems in the present, and build a better future.

Author Biography

Richard Kagan is Director of Psychological Services for Parsons Child and Family Center in Albany, New York, and Clinical Director/Principal Investigator for Parsons Child Trauma Study Center, a community services site for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
PART I: LIFELINES
Attachment	3	(24)
Trauma Damage to Neurodevelopment	3	(1)
Attachment Theory and Research	4	(8)
Attachment and Behavior Patterns	12	(5)
Attachment and Behavior Problems	17	(2)
Facilitating Attachment	19	(5)
Promoting Resilience	24	(2)
Conclusion	26	(1)
Angel or Demon?	27	(14)
Two Boys	27	(4)
The Impact of Neglect and Violence	31	(4)
Trauma and Neurological Functioning: Theory and Research	35	(5)
Conclusion	40	(1)
The Curse of Neglect	41	(16)
Introduction	41	(3)
How Neglect Disrupts Attachment	44	(2)
Neglect and the Social Service System	46	(4)
Statistics and Research on Abuse and Neglect	50	(3)
Conclusion	53	(4)
PART II: REBUILDING ATTACHMENTS
Breaking the Curse	57	(24)
Introduction	57	(2)
Myths That Perpetuate Abuse and Neglect	59	(13)
Obstacles to Rebuilding Attachments	72	(2)
Methods of Rebuilding Attachments	74	(4)
Conclusion	78	(3)
Restoring Hope and Safety	81	(20)
Introduction	81	(2)
Investigating Child Abuse and Neglect	83	(14)
Developing Service Plans for Traumatized Children in Placement	97	(4)
Reparenting the Hurt Child	101	(28)
Introduction	101	(1)
Tools for Parenting Traumatized Children	102	(2)
Steps and Tools for Rebuilding Attachment	104	(23)
Conclusion	127	(2)
Permanency	129	(26)
Introduction	129	(1)
Activities That Foster Attachment	130	(12)
Rights and Responsibilities Within Families	142	(4)
Skill-Building Activities	146	(2)
Signs of Attachment	148	(2)
Conclusion	150	(5)
PART III: THE MAKING OF A HERO
Telling the Story	155	(28)
Introduction	155	(2)
Trauma Therapy	157	(14)
Life Stories: From Shame to Strength	171	(9)
Detoxifying Traumas	180	(3)
Real Life Heroes	183	(22)
Life-Story Work	183	(6)
The Real Life Heroes Workbook	189	(5)
Redefining Heroes for Children	194	(2)
Finding Heroes	196	(3)
Supporting Heroes	199	(2)
Protecting Heroes	201	(2)
The Hero's Challenge	203	(2)
The Magic of Parents	205	(18)
Understanding and Treating Trauma and Attachment Disorders	205	(14)
Rising Above Trauma	219	(1)
The Parent's Life Story	220	(3)
A Hero's Story: Using the Real Life Heroes Workbook	223	(24)
Introduction	223	(1)
Beginning the Journey	223	(3)
Contents of Workbook	226	(3)
Objectives of Workbook	229	(8)
Adapting the Workbook for Adolescents and Young Children	237	(1)
Facilitating Storytelling	238	(2)
Self-Soothing Skills	240	(1)
Attachment and Trauma Therapy	241	(2)
Adoption	243	(1)
Completion of the Workbook	244	(3)
Impasse and Beyond	247	(20)
Introduction	247	(1)
Getting Past the Impossible	248	(2)
Calling a Crisis	250	(1)
Therapeutic Tools for Breaking Impasse	251	(7)
Obstacles to Breaking Impasse	258	(7)
Beyond Impasse	265	(2)
Into the Future	267	(12)
The Quest	268	(2)
The Therapist's Role	270	(1)
Crossing the Threshold	270	(3)
Reconnecting	273	(2)
Working with Time	275	(2)
Advocacy for Parents	277	(1)
The Making of a Hero	278	(1)
Appendix A. Important People	279	(4)
Appendix B. Attachment Ecogram	283	(6)
Appendix C. Outline of Assessments and Interventions	289	(10)
Appendix D. Real Life Heroes: A Progressive, Developmental Curriculum	299	(18)
Overview	299	(2)
Introduction of the Real Life Heroes Model	301	(2)
Caring Adult Resource Development	303	(2)
Chapter by Chapter, Developing Strengths	305	(9)
Completion of Life Story Work	314	(3)
Appendix E. Chapter by Chapter, Stronger and Stronger	317	(2)
Appendix F. Utilizing Impasse	319	(6)
Appendix G. Game Therapy Illustration	325	(8)
Notes	333	(6)
References	339	(18)
Index	357