How many of you receive or have heard of the magazine Fostering Families? In the NovDec issue that just arrived in my mailbox, there were several articles that related to attachment and/or mental health issues.


One such article was written by Richard Delaney, PhD. The article was titled Fostering Changes, which is the same title he used for a book he wrote many years ago.


Dr. Delaney also co-authored Troubled Transplants with Frank Kunstal, another well-known therapist and author in the attachment community.


One of my favorite stories of unconventional responses for unconventional children is described in one of these two books, and I think it is in Fostering Changes (but it might be in Troubled Transplants!) Anyway, the story is about a child who refuses to eat anything but pizza, so after losing the fight, the family (at Dr. Delaney’s urging) opts instead to feed the child only pizza… for breakfast, lunch and dinner! After a few days or a week, the girl decides maybe she’ll eat something else…


Another story is about a child who is always very, very negative and complains and whines all the time. At Dr. Delaney’s suggestion, the family sits down to dinner one night and they all start whining and complaining about their day. No one says anything positive. Eventually the child screams “Enough already!” and gets the point… although again, it took a few days at least.


It has been quite awhile since I read those books, but I remember those stories. I might not have remembered them verbatim, but that is the gist of them. I have shared those anecdotes with quite a few people along my journey.


I spoke with Dr. Delaney about a year ago at the International Foster Care conference held in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. Delaney and Dr. Kunstal were both presenters. It was evident to me at that time that Dr. Delaney’s thinking was undergoing a bit of a shift. However, I found some of his comments in the article in Fostering Families magazine to be somewhat disconcerting.


I wasn’t sure how “on target” my reactions were, so I polled other members of ADN. I learned they responded similarly to me. So, in the next installment, I will quote bits of the article and I hope to hear from you, as well. And if you have read it, feel free to respond ASAP!