When a child gets sick or badly hurt (injured), he will require medical attention. Traditionally, in a hospital setting, where children are taken to be seen when signs of abuse have been recognized by an adult, Social Workers are called to work with child-placement issues.
Social workers, although highly educated, are NOT medically trained or licensed. Their's is a social service, therefore limited in scope.
I cannot help but ask: if health and safety issues put a child in a high risk category for multiple medical conditions, (meaning return visits to the ER for malnutrition, illness and/ or injury) why are social workers responsible for the placement of children outside the hospital setting? If a child who is hurt, sick or in medical danger, and is seen by a medical professional (nurse or doctor), who's responsibility is it to ensure proper follow-up care? Who is accountable for the future wellness of our children?
If the medical community does not care for it's endangered, what sort of human species, or breed of people will develop, as a result?
Why do kids turn to violence? And why do social workers and school authorities find it so difficult to identify children with the potential to harm other children?
Often it can be traced back to Attachment Disorder -- a mental and emotional condition occurring during the first three years of life where a child does not attach, bond, or trust his or her mother.
If a child experiences any of the following in the first three years of life, that child is at risk for attachment disorder:
Drug or alcohol use by mother during pregnancy.
Unwanted pregnancy.
Caring for the infant on a timed schedule, or other self-centered parenting.
Sudden abandonment or separation from mother (death of mother, illness of mother or child, or adoption).
Physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Neglect of physical or emotional needs.
Several family moves and/or daycare or foster placements.
Inconsistent/inadequate care or daycare.
Unprepared mothers, poor parent skills, inconsistent responses to child.
Mothers with depression.
Undiagnosed or painful illnesses (ear infections, colic, surgery).
Deborah Hage, a therapist specializing in attachment disorder, adds:
Traditionally it has been believed that children who have been orphaned or abused and neglected are the primary victims of poor bonding and attachment in the early years. In our two income society, however, a new phenomenon has emerged. Children are being overindulged by parents who have more money then time to spend with them. The result is that children are being raised in financially secure, but emotionally empty environments, with little discipline and structure. Currently this most common form of neglect is also the most socially acceptable. The societal ramifications of children who are overindulged and often emotionally left can be as severe as children who are considered attachment disordered due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, and multiple moves.
Symptoms of attachment disorder may include:
Superficially engaging, affectionate, charming, or phony behavior.
Attachment-disordered children are guided only by what they want at the moment. Their focus is self-centered and selfish and there is no concern for how their behavior impacts others. Behavior and attitude is similar to those diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (termed conduct disorder for individuals under 18 years of age).
"Because children’s early attachment relationships govern other relationships throughout life and future behavior, the earlier the intervention the better." In spite of adoption's long history, only CHILDREN are recognized as having RAD. [Sorry adults, you're on your own...]
Below is information taken from wikipedia. Note the timing and type of medical intervention given to those capable of reproduction and ask: who cares about what causesAttachment Disorders, and who is caring for the Adult-children with RAD?
Research suggests that emotionally withdrawn/inhibited and indiscriminate/disinhibited types of RAD are not entirely independent, as they can co-occur in the same child. In a recent study, toddlers whose mothers had a history of psychiatric disturbance were more likely to be diagnosed with attachment disorders. Specifically, mothers with a history of psychiatric problems were more likely to have children exhibiting signs of inhibited/emotionally withdrawn RAD. Also, mothers with a history of psychiatric problems and substance use disorders had children more likely to exhibit signs of disinhibited/indiscriminate RAD.
Many popular, informal classification systems, outside the DSM and ICD, have been created out of clinical and parental experience. Some critics have charged these informal classification systems are inaccurate, too broadly defined or applied by unqualified persons.
One popular classification system is the Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire. The checklist includes 93 discrete behaviours, many of which overlap with other disorders, like Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
Children who are adopted after the age of six months are at risk for attachment problems.
Normal attachment develops during the child's first two to three years of life. Problems with the mother-child relationship during that time, orphanage experience, or breaks in the consistent caregiver-child relationship interfere with the normal development of a healthy and secure attachment. There are wide ranges of attachment difficulties that result in varying degrees of emotional disturbance in the child. One thing is certain; if an infant's needs are not met consistently, in a loving, nurturing way, attachment will not occur normally and this underlying problem will manifest itself in a variety of symptoms Bowlby.
When the first-year-of-life attachment-cycle is undermined (Basic Trust vs. Mistrust, in Erik Erikson's framework) and the child’s needs are not met, and normal socializing shame is not resolved, mistrust begins to define the perspective of the child and attachment problems result. In direct consequence, the child may develop mistrust, impeding effective attachment behavior. The developmental stages following these first three years continue to be distorted and/or retarded, and common symptoms emerge.
Framework
The theoretical framework for Reactive Attachment Disorder is Attachment theory based on work by Bowlby, Ainsworth and Spitz, from the 1940s to the 1980s.
The development of diagnostic criteria was further operationalised by Zeanah and O’Connor throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and through greater awareness garnered from the adoption of institutionalised children from Romania, Russia and China, and also foster care in America and other nations.
Psychiatrist Michael Rutter has done an outcome study, the largest of its kind, called the Romanian Adoption Project. Victor Groza has done another outcome study, and as of 2004 there are many in process.
A defining characteristic of Reactive Attachment Disorder is early chronic maltreatment. Maltreatment means child abuse, physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and is closely associated with Complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Another defining trait of Reactive Attachment Disorder is Emotional dysregulation.
There are various "attachment styles" that are not pathological, and attachment issues that may be found anywhere within the continuum. Some of the attachment styles are named: "avoidant", "aggressive", "ambivalent" and "disorganised/mixed". There is often a blending of several attachment styles in an individual.
"Reactive Attachment Disorder" has been traditionally used to describe a "severe disturbance in the attachment between caregiver and child that is of long standing and applicable/observable in all contexts in which the child interacts."
Reactive Attachment Disorder affects the "basic working model" of the self. This working model is shaped by the child's attachment to mother and father. Many parents of RAD children report that they do not understand what their child is thinking or feeling. This may be due to inconsistent signals from the child, or to the inability of parents to interpret signals (due, for example, to the parents own experience with childhood abuse), or both. As with all disorders, the focus of the diagnosis of RAD is on the cause of the observed attachment style, not on specific symptoms or surface behaviors.
There is a high comborbidity between Reactive Attachment Disorder and Bipolar I Disorder with about 50% of children in the Child Welfare System who have Reactive Attachment Disorder also have Bipolar I Disorder.
Fifty percent of those put in child-welfare services are not well BECAUSE of professional neglect. Are there any who still wonder, why the divorce rate is so high?
Comments
Should adoption be a medical concern?
When a child gets sick or badly hurt (injured), he will require medical attention. Traditionally, in a hospital setting, where children are taken to be seen when signs of abuse have been recognized by an adult, Social Workers are called to work with child-placement issues.
Social workers, although highly educated, are NOT medically trained or licensed. Their's is a social service, therefore limited in scope.
I cannot help but ask: if health and safety issues put a child in a high risk category for multiple medical conditions, (meaning return visits to the ER for malnutrition, illness and/ or injury) why are social workers responsible for the placement of children outside the hospital setting? If a child who is hurt, sick or in medical danger, and is seen by a medical professional (nurse or doctor), who's responsibility is it to ensure proper follow-up care? Who is accountable for the future wellness of our children?
If the medical community does not care for it's endangered, what sort of human species, or breed of people will develop, as a result?
http://www.focusas.com/Attachment.html
Why do kids turn to violence? And why do social workers and school authorities find it so difficult to identify children with the potential to harm other children?
Often it can be traced back to Attachment Disorder -- a mental and emotional condition occurring during the first three years of life where a child does not attach, bond, or trust his or her mother.
If a child experiences any of the following in the first three years of life, that child is at risk for attachment disorder:
Deborah Hage, a therapist specializing in attachment disorder, adds:
Symptoms of attachment disorder may include:
Attachment-disordered children are guided only by what they want at the moment. Their focus is self-centered and selfish and there is no concern for how their behavior impacts others. Behavior and attitude is similar to those diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (termed conduct disorder for individuals under 18 years of age).
Additionally, there are almost always co-existing diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), bipolar or other mood disorders, and/or attentional disorders (ADD/ADHD).
"Because children’s early attachment relationships govern other relationships throughout life and future behavior, the earlier the intervention the better." In spite of adoption's long history, only CHILDREN are recognized as having RAD. [Sorry adults, you're on your own...]
Below is information taken from wikipedia. Note the timing and type of medical intervention given to those capable of reproduction and ask: who cares about what causes Attachment Disorders, and who is caring for the Adult-children with RAD?
Research suggests that emotionally withdrawn/inhibited and indiscriminate/disinhibited types of RAD are not entirely independent, as they can co-occur in the same child. In a recent study, toddlers whose mothers had a history of psychiatric disturbance were more likely to be diagnosed with attachment disorders. Specifically, mothers with a history of psychiatric problems were more likely to have children exhibiting signs of inhibited/emotionally withdrawn RAD. Also, mothers with a history of psychiatric problems and substance use disorders had children more likely to exhibit signs of disinhibited/indiscriminate RAD.
Many popular, informal classification systems, outside the DSM and ICD, have been created out of clinical and parental experience. Some critics have charged these informal classification systems are inaccurate, too broadly defined or applied by unqualified persons.
One popular classification system is the Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire. The checklist includes 93 discrete behaviours, many of which overlap with other disorders, like Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
Children who are adopted after the age of six months are at risk for attachment problems.
Normal attachment develops during the child's first two to three years of life. Problems with the mother-child relationship during that time, orphanage experience, or breaks in the consistent caregiver-child relationship interfere with the normal development of a healthy and secure attachment. There are wide ranges of attachment difficulties that result in varying degrees of emotional disturbance in the child. One thing is certain; if an infant's needs are not met consistently, in a loving, nurturing way, attachment will not occur normally and this underlying problem will manifest itself in a variety of symptoms Bowlby.
When the first-year-of-life attachment-cycle is undermined (Basic Trust vs. Mistrust, in Erik Erikson's framework) and the child’s needs are not met, and normal socializing shame is not resolved, mistrust begins to define the perspective of the child and attachment problems result. In direct consequence, the child may develop mistrust, impeding effective attachment behavior. The developmental stages following these first three years continue to be distorted and/or retarded, and common symptoms emerge.
Framework
The theoretical framework for Reactive Attachment Disorder is Attachment theory based on work by Bowlby, Ainsworth and Spitz, from the 1940s to the 1980s.
The development of diagnostic criteria was further operationalised by Zeanah and O’Connor throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and through greater awareness garnered from the adoption of institutionalised children from Romania, Russia and China, and also foster care in America and other nations.
Psychiatrist Michael Rutter has done an outcome study, the largest of its kind, called the Romanian Adoption Project. Victor Groza has done another outcome study, and as of 2004 there are many in process.
A defining characteristic of Reactive Attachment Disorder is early chronic maltreatment. Maltreatment means child abuse, physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and is closely associated with Complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Another defining trait of Reactive Attachment Disorder is Emotional dysregulation.
Diagnosis
In mainstream medical practice, Reactive Attachment Disorder is most often diagnosed by social workers or psychologists. Psychiatrists may be called in when there is medication involved.
There are various "attachment styles" that are not pathological, and attachment issues that may be found anywhere within the continuum. Some of the attachment styles are named: "avoidant", "aggressive", "ambivalent" and "disorganised/mixed". There is often a blending of several attachment styles in an individual.
"Reactive Attachment Disorder" has been traditionally used to describe a "severe disturbance in the attachment between caregiver and child that is of long standing and applicable/observable in all contexts in which the child interacts."
Reactive Attachment Disorder affects the "basic working model" of the self. This working model is shaped by the child's attachment to mother and father. Many parents of RAD children report that they do not understand what their child is thinking or feeling. This may be due to inconsistent signals from the child, or to the inability of parents to interpret signals (due, for example, to the parents own experience with childhood abuse), or both. As with all disorders, the focus of the diagnosis of RAD is on the cause of the observed attachment style, not on specific symptoms or surface behaviors.
There is a high comborbidity between Reactive Attachment Disorder and Bipolar I Disorder with about 50% of children in the Child Welfare System who have Reactive Attachment Disorder also have Bipolar I Disorder.
Fifty percent of those put in child-welfare services are not well BECAUSE of professional neglect. Are there any who still wonder, why the divorce rate is so high?