Joshua was healthy in every way, but had a huge struggle attaching to his new family. As you can see from the photo of his first meeting with mommy, he was not really a happy camper and wanted nothing to do with all of this hugging and bonding stuff. We had a very, very difficult first year and a half or so but we were certain this was the child God had planned for us to parent, and knowing that kept us quite committed to him. While there has been a lot published and studied about older child Reactive Attachment Disorder, we found there was much less information available about infant RAD but we plodded along and slowly we began to see the gradual changes in Josh. He went from being an extremely unhappy baby to a healthy, well-adjusted, compassionate, extraordinary pre-schooler. What a gift he has been! It took us a few mistarts to eventually find a therapist, Joan Mulleady, who understood we were keeping this child and were not looking for support to relinquish but instead needed ideas for helping him heal. If anyone reading this blog would like more information or needs support for infant/toddler RAD, please don't hesitate to email me...it can be a very lonely road to travel.
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