Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother's Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder

by Tina Traster, Melissa Fay Greene (Foreword by)

Overview

In moving and candid prose, Rescuing Julia Twice tells Traster’s foreign-adoption story, from dealing with the bleak landscape and inscrutable adoption handlers in Siberia, to her gradual realization that something was "not quite right" with her daughter, Julia. Traster describes how uncertainty turned to despair until she learned that Julia suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a serious condition associated with young children who have been neglected, abused, or orphaned in infancy. Lifting the veil of secrecy that too often surrounds parents struggling with attachment issues, Traster describes how with work, commitment, and acceptance, she and her husband have been able to close the gulf between them and their daughter, then concludes with practical advice, strategies, and resources for parents and caregivers.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613738283
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/01/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Tina Traster is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Post, Time Out New York, the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Family Circle, Parade, Audubon, and many more. Her quarterly column on PsychologyToday.com, "Against All Odds: Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder," offers updates on life with her daughter. Melissa Fay Greene is the award-winning author of six books of nonfiction. She and her husband are the parents of nine children: four by birth and five by adoption.

Table of Contents

Foreword Melissa Fay Greene ix

Prologue 3

Part 1 A Daughter Waiting in Siberia 7

Part 2 Sometimes these Kids are Not Alright 65

Part 3 Make Love Happen 175

Epilogue 227

Conclusion: What Being Julia's Mother Has Taught Me, and Other Advice for Raising a Child with Reactive Attachment Disorder 229

Acknowledgments 235

Resources 237

Index 245

Editorial Reviews

"[N]othing short of stunning. This book will stay with you long after you close the cover.”  —Lori Holden, author, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption


“Many adoption memoirs detail the journey that brings parent and child together . . . and end with a loving, triumphant homecoming. Fewer follow the story years down the road, as parents and child knit themselves into a family. Traster holds nothing back in recounting that second journey, to truly become her child’s mother.”  —Eve Gilman, editor, Adoptive Families Magazine


"If you are an adoptive parent, don’t miss this book.”  —Jane Ballback, publisher and executive editor, Adoption Voices Magazine

From the Publisher

03/15/2014
International adoption is fraught with complications, which is no surprise to journalist Traster (New York Post; New York Times; Audubon; Family Circle) and husband Ricky, as they embark upon the journey to adopt a child from an orphanage in Siberia. At first things proceed almost too smoothly. The couple is approved to adopt a six-month-old girl, whereas infants are usually not available for adoption. Moreover, the process transpires at lightning speed. Once the new family returns to New York, the difficulties begin. Traster struggles to bond with daughter Julia, a child who manipulates in order to avoid closeness. Julia lacks normal affect and causes problems at preschool. After years of this troubled relationship, however, Traster happens upon information on Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), a bonding disorder that is prevalent in children adopted from Russian orphanages. Once Traster identifies the issue, she and Ricky successfully employ effective therapeutic techniques in order to teach Julia to trust them. VERDICT Like Jessie Hogsett's helpful Detached, this title is indispensable for adoptive parents, relatives, and teachers.—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

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