Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46581 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 510 pages

From the Publisher
Advance Praise for Nurturing Adoptions

Deborah Gray, once again, addresses the primary issues that parents and professionals confront when they become involved with hurt children. She has something for just about everyone in the adoption world! Her detailed examination of many cogent issues will help anyone whose life is touched by children and adolescents who have lost so much prior to their adoptions and yet have so much to gain in their new families. Reading Gray's work will leave no stone unturned.
Gregory C. Keck ,Ph.D.
Founder/Director of The Attachment and Bonding Center
of Ohio
Co-author of Adopting the Hurt Child and Parenting the Hurt Child
Ohio

Deborah Gray thinks like a child, both imaginatively and yet very concretely. That's why Nurturing Adoptions is filled with creative ideas and practical suggestions that bring a fresh approach for traumatized children learning to love and trust in an adoptive family. I started to mark the pages of Nurturing Adoptions that contained especially useful ideas and soon found myself in a blizzard of bookmarks. Too much good stuff!
Mary Ann Curran, M.A.,
Director of Social Services at
World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP)
Washington state

People sometimes do not understand that attachment work has many facets. Deborah Gray's Nurturing Adoptions helps parents, therapists, and social workers integrate trauma, loss and grief into attachment work. As always she uses clear language, case vignettes, and is able to take complex issues and break them down for easy understanding. This should help all concerned view attachment as a process not an event which ,depending on the family, has many issues that need to be addressed. Thank you Deborah for this contribution.
Regina M. Kupecky LSW
co-author with Gregory C. Keck PhD Adopting the Hurt Child and Parenting the Hurt Child, author of curriculum My Brother My Sister: Sibling Relations in Adoption and Foster Care co-oauthor with Arleta James and Gregory C. Keck of curriculum Abroad and Back: Parenting and International Adoption

In Nurturing Adoptions, Deborah Gray delivers an exceptional depiction of the emotional, developmental and neurological impacts of early childhood trauma and neglect. Additionally, she highlights critical areas of assessment that social workers must consider when home studying families prior to placing children who have experienced abuse or neglect. In a field laden with a variety of controversial and coercive methods of working with children demonstrating symptoms of reactive attachment disorder, it is refreshing to see that Deborah not only discourages the early and over diagnosis of RAD, but provides lots of strategies for assessing and working with children and families that are evidence based and sensitive to the developmental needs of children. My hope is that this book will be read by all social workers and therapists working with foster and adoptive families. We will be making it required reading for our social work staff. Thank you, Deborah, for such a valuable contribution to this field.
Karen Alvord, LCSW
Executive Director of Lilliput Children's Services
California

At last there is a "how to" book for professionals working with children with the scars of abuse and neglect. Deborah Gray lays out the foundations of research in this field, explaining how and why children respond to stresses of their early lives. From these foundations she helps professionals and families to create a milieu that will build self-esteem, address trauma and grief, and work towards resiliency. Therapists with little experience in this field may not recognize the many issues that are impacting the child's behavior. Often I find that these mental health professionals are at a loss, incompletely understanding the impact of a child's early trauma on their emotional development. Here, as well, is a toolbox to help both adoption professionals who are new to adoption and those with years of experience. This book will be quoted over and over again to my patients, therapists in my community, and even in my home. I plan to have two copies - one to share with families at work, the other to refer to as a parent as I nurture my own children towards coping with their pasts.
Deborah Borchers, M.D.
Pediatrician specializing in adoption and foster care medicine and Adoptive Mom
Cincinnati, Ohio

Deborah's work in Nurturing Adoptions identifies the importance of considering the biological impact of trauma and neglect in children. She bridges the physiological and psychological effects of traumatic stress that can develop into lifelong emotional or attachment issues. Deborah has the unique ability to give practical context to the challenging outcomes that are reflective of stress, trauma and neglect in children. Her sensitive, insightful writing style draws the reader into her work with ease. Whether you are a parent by birth, adoption or foster care or a professional working with children you will benefit from Deborah's expertise and dedication to families!
Cindy Haftner and Leah Deans
Executive Director andResource Director
Adoption Support Centre of Saskatchewan Inc.

The "required reading in adoption" list just got longer, and shorter. Nurturing Adoptions is several long-awaited books in one: a deft overview of neglect and trauma's effects on children and families, a collection of practical pearls for adoptive parents, a best practices primer for child welfare professionals, and a lovely illustration for child therapists of Deborah Gray's state-of-the-art therapeutic approach.

While I do enjoy traipsing around the Pacific Northwest to Deborah's fantastic trainings, it's so nice to finally have this material collected in book form, especially one so infused with hope, wry wit, empathy for all involved, and hard-earned practical wisdom. Her previous book, Attaching in Adoption, which has been our must-read attachment book for parents and professionals, now has a wonderful new sibling.
Julian Davies, MD
Co-Director of The Center for Adoption Medicine,
University of Washington

This is an essential book for professionals and parents! Deborah Gray reviews and explains valuable, current and applicable research. She then goes much further and clarifies the "whys' and "how's." Why are we seeing children and families in such distress and how do we assist them? Nurturing Adoptions offers skill building in assessment, treating, placing, parenting, teaching and loving traumatized and neglected children.

Parents and professionals will find important information about building the resiliency of children, of families and of professionals. The vignettes used to describe research, techniques and strategies are so thorough and encouraging they can be visualized.

Deborah, what a gift you've given to those of us that are committed to and have claimed hurt children. Thank you for sharing your passion with this optimistic resource. As soon as it available, Nurturing Adoptions will be on my list of "must haves."
Yolanda Comparan, MSW
Owner/Operator
Adoption Referral & Information Service and Mom by Adoption
Washington State

Deborah's book made me sigh with relief. Finally there is a resource that let's us see the big picture. There is risk to focus only on what is diagnosed "on the surface". For example, a child adopted internationally may have RAD or sensory integration disorder. Deborah enlightens us that children are not that simple. She fosters one to stop and think about the child as a whole, how the child was wired in the womb and how the child's world to date has left an enduring impression. She blends the scientific biomedical research with hands-on easy to understand therapeutic approaches to children who have experienced trauma. Both parents and professionals will find this book a blessing.
Julie K. Keck MD
Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician
Director of the International Adoption Clinic at Riley Hospital for Children
Indianapolis, Indiana

Nurturing Adoptions is a "must read" for anyone providing therapeutic services to adoptive families. Debra provides a wealth of information based on current research that enables therapists to help children and their families heal and develop positive relationships.
Patty Jewell, LCSW
Therapeutic Foster Care and Home Run Program Supervisor
Bethany Christian Services, Indianapolis Branch

From the Inside Flap
Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma by Deborah D. Gray

Like so many things, adoption has been affected by the rapidly changing world. In fact, adoption has a completely different face than it did just 10 years ago. Because of dramatic changes in where the majority of children come from, at what ages, and after what experiences, social work and child therapy professionals must adjust their tools and skills just as dramatically.

Adoptions, both domestic and international, create families with children at all different levels of development and needs. Just because the child is two years old doesn't mean he is at a two-year-old's expected level of development. Factors such as attachment issues, grief, trauma and prenatal exposure to harmful substances, all play important roles.

This book provides best practices for professionals working with families adopting in a 21st-century world. Hear the success stories of breakthroughs and secure families through the voices of children and their families who have overcome the challenges today's adoptive families face.

Find practical, yet flexible ways to move children--from infants to early teens--into their new families. Learn the effects of neglect and trauma on brain and emotional development, and more importantly, how to recognize them. Discover home and school approaches that encourage children to flourish, even after trauma and neglect.

More than ever, adoptive families need professionals who will thoroughly prepare and support them--not just through the adoption process but as the family grows. This book by the author of the acclaimed Attaching in Adoption gives support to placement and therapy professionals in helping to create successful families.

About the Author
Deborah Gray is the founder of Nurturing Attachments. She is a clinical social worker specializing in the areas of attachment, grief, and trauma. She has spent over 15,000 hours in the last 15 years counseling children who were adopted. Her private practice philosophy is one of empowering parents with information and techniques so that their skills and styles are used in meeting the needs of their children. Her passion is to help children and their families to develop close, satisfying relationships.

Deborah is a popular presenter due to her practical approaches of promoting attachment, shaping behavior, and working through trauma. She teaches in the Cascadia Resources/Northwest Adoption Resource and Portland State Post-Graduate Programs in Adoption Counseling and the University of Washington's Post-Graduate Trauma Certificate program.

In her personal life, Deborah Gray feels linked to adoption through the family in which she grew up. She has also been a therapeutic foster parent. She received her graduate degrees from Syracuse University in 1981. She is a licensed social worker in the State of Washington.

Deborah Gray is the author of numerous articles and the book Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents, published by Perspectives Press, Inc. in 2002.

Customer Reviews

Must-have resource!
Finally, a well respected, prominent professional has used extensive research to address the overuse of the RAD diagnosis and offer alteratives that are evidence based. The title and introduction to the book set the tone, children who have been traumatized must be nurtured rather than coerced. The introduction states this clearly:

"Readers familiar with coercive techniques will find them singularly absent from Nurturing Adoptions. The reasons go beyond the widely shared ethical concerns. Coercive techniques are contraindicated due to the effects that neglect and trauma have had on the brains of the children about whom the book was written."

While Deborah Gray's first book was excellent, this one is even better. It is both comprehensive and easy to read, an essential resource for a child welfare advocates.

Gentle, practical and effective
This is an excellent follow up to the authors first book. It describes gentle, practical and effective techniques that both parents and therapists can use to work with children who have experience trauma and loss. It is detailed enough to suit its purpose without resorting to the "jargon" that plagues most books of this nature. It is a fairly easy read and is almost immediately helpful.

Deborah Gray's experience and insight into the mind of a trumatized child is remarkable. And this is not just an adoption book, it is helpful for anyone who knows a child who has experienced trauma or loss. Her methods are gentle and focused on nurture. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent Trauma/Loss Resource
Deborah D. Gray is the founder of Nurturing Attachments, an organization specializing in treating childhood trauma and loss in ways that are both effective and gentle. I know her both personally and professionally and thoroughly enjoyed her latest book.

Just to clear up some misperceptions, Deborah D Gray has never done "holding therapy" and is not an advocate of this practice. The introduction of her book makes this clear, "Readers familiar with coercive techniques will find them singularly absent from Nurturing Adoptions. The reasons go beyond the widely shared ethical concerns. Coercive techniques are contraindicated due to the effects that neglect and trauma have had on the brains of the children about whom the book was written."

She sometimes gets "trashed" by members of "anti-holding therapy" movement, who have not adequately researched her work. I am against holding therapy, and that is exactly why I love Deborah Gray's books. She exclusively advocates science based approaches and non-coercive methods of treating children.

This new book incorporates a new tool designed to help families and professionals understand how new research on the impact of neglect, abuse, early trauma, and institutionalization on the developing brains of children can guide their practices in new directions. It is an easy read and extremely practical. The only thing I fault about Nurturing Adoptions is the title, it is far too limiting. This is a book about trauma and loss, its value is not limited to adoption issues. It should be read and used by all child welfare advocates.