The Connecting Space: A Place to Grow in Trust-Based Connections with Your Child

I began our adoptive parenting journey confident that the way I had parented our biological children would also be effective for our Russian- born, orphanage- raised twin sons. It wasn’t. In the first few years of bringing them home, I didn’t know early trauma and neglect effects the brain; that no matter how safe a child really is, if they do not FEEL safe, they will live in constant fearthat drives their behaviors. I didn’t know that it takes a new way of looking at our hurt children to see what is hiding in plain sight underneath the troubling behaviors. I didn’t know how much I needed to change, so that I could be what they need. And I didn’t know that this change in me would bring about healing in my own life too. This kind of self-understanding and reflection is probably my greatest strength and I believe what most makes me “qualified” to be a support person for you on your own journey. I have been to some of the places you are in now and I would like to support you as you parent or care for the children in your life.