A friend from my Chicago days sent me a link to this article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune last Sunday. The article describes the Ranch for Kids in Montana, a residential and respite facility for children adopted internationally. Most of the children are from Eastern Europe. The Ranch serves children from 0-17, and the average stay for a child needing behavior modification is 3-12 months.... more

I have a confession to make. The posts of the last few days have been coming to you through the magic of “dripping” because my husband, Beth and I were family camping at a YMCA camp in Kansas. It rained for the entire three days, but we still had fun. We went with two other neighbor families and had 5 kids between us, so it was a great time. Beth fished, kayaked, went swimming, hunted snakes, practiced archery, and climbed this tower right ahead of her 50 year old mom!

Yesterday morning I headed to the tower first with... more

I am saddened this morning… I had a mom request information about Nancy Thomas camps. I think Nancy does amazing work, so I was happy to provide more information.

Her children’s therapist had recommended that this family attend a Nancy Thomas camp. This mom was doing her homework and asked if anyone had been to one of the camps. I arranged for two families who had attended to email her. I don’t know if they had a chance to communicate with her or not, but on the message board... more

Although I have been company-less for 72 hours, I’m still draggin’ my wagon… I don’t seem to bounce back like I used to be able to do. Plenty of folks tell me I have a lot of energy for a half-centurion… but I sure feel tired this week!

Yesterday I arranged a three-way call with a couple who adopted two daughters through foster care 5 years ago. It was one of those “take them for a week or two of respite” deals that turned into five years of “respite” (they did legally adopt them)… And guess what? Only two weeks ago they received the diagnosis of RAD on... more

I had several different ideas of what I wanted to blog about this morning, but Cindy’s post about her raging son preempted my other ideas. I am in constant awe of the amazing things that are clearly happening at Cindy’s house, but her post today brought back a rush of memories for me.

Cindy has had 3 out of 39 (that number still blows my mind) kids that were too violent to live in a family. I adopted 4 times, disrupted one (because... more

I recently blogged about the series of articles appearing in the KC Star about mental health issues in children. The articles described the difficulties in finding appropriate school settings for emotionally disturbed children, the difficulties in diagnosing and treating the mental health issues of children, the uncertainty about medications and dosages, the ramifications of residential placement, and a host of other problems associated with mentally ill kids.... more

Part One Part Two Part Three

Marcus’s therapist is 25 years old. She worked with Romanian orphans while in college, and was so affected by the experience she subsequently liquidated most of... more

Two more installments of the series on children’s mental health have appeared in the KC Star. The series is specifically about Marcus, a 6 year old with a plethora of diagnoses after his name. Yesterday’s installment opens with Marcus recently placed at Spofford, an RTC here in the KC metro area. On average, slightly less than 50 kids between the ages of 4 and 12 are housed at Spofford, because of mental and emotional problems so severe... more

Part One

One of the folks quoted in the article is Susan Crain Lewis. Thanks to her, I was able to present a seminar on RAD in the late 90’s here in the KC metro area. I have already emailed her, too, hoping to reestablish the wonderful working relationship we had 6 years ago.

I wish I had been able to speak to this reporter before the article was written, but hopefully I can reach out to other... more

After church tonight, and dinner provided by Boston Market, I started sifting through the paper to look at all the flyers for those last-minute gift ideas. Instead, I was immediately drawn to the front page of the Kansas City Star. The top headline shouted the disturbing news of a man who said he was “tired of being picked on” and “fixed” his problem by shooting his long-time girlfriend and 4 of their kids. One child is in grave condition—the others died. Right below that headline was the second big story, Mending... more