Kristin Berry - Securely Attached: How Understanding Childhood Trauma Will Transform Your Parenting- A Handbook for Adoptive and Foster Parents

Children grow, develop, and learn in the context of relationships. Based on lessons learned through lived experience and their professional work, Kristin and Mike Berrywith humor, truth-telling, and insightbring this important message to parents and caregivers of all stripes. I highly recommend this book to all foster and adoptive parents who find themselves in the middle of the night asking, What do I do now?

IRA J. CHASNOFF, MD, President, NTI Upstream; professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine

I want this book put in the hands of all adoptive parents who are not already experts in developmental trauma. Even those who have heard this information before can appreciate the relatable voice with which the Berrys teach. Mike and Kristin are wonderful, quiet leaders and knowledgeable teachers. This book shares beautiful, understandable examples. Readers will feel understood, informed, and empowered to parent through trauma with love.

BROOKE RANDOLPH, LMHC, Founder & Director, Counseling at The Green House; Certified Brainspotting Therapist & Consultant; Certified Imago Relationship Therapist

Mike and Kristin Berrys new book, Securely Attached, is an engaging conversation between the Berrys and their readers. The Berrys coach adoptive and foster parents, giving examples, scripts, and information in a format that answers typical questions: Why do they do that? and What should I do? The practical advice in the book runs the gamut of parenting experiences, from an observation checklist to pin down the source of a childs dysregulation, to how to form a safety plan for a child/teen who poses a danger to others. In one of my favorite chapters, the authors describe the floors of a child/teens brain, and how to react accordingly. Securely Attached succeeds in providing straightforward explanations for complex issues. The authors provide plans to reduce the challenges to attachmenttrauma, sensory issues, losses, and behaviors. Every reader who is parenting through adoption, guardianship, or foster care will find new methods and insights in this book. Best of all, they will experience the Berrys cheering for their families.

DEBORAH D. GRAY, LICSW, author of Promoting Healthy Attachments; Attaching Through Love, Hugs, and Play; Attaching in Adoption; and Nurturing Adoptions; coauthor of Games and Activities for Attaching with Your Child

Securely Attached is for every foster and/or adoptive parent. Mike and Kristin have bravely taken the science of trauma and attachment and coupled it with real-life examples, based on their years of personal experience, and made a complete resource full of practical insight. While there are a number of books I recommend to foster and adoptive families, Securely Attached will now be my go-to resource because it presents the information, examples, and applications all in one place. This is a book that I think parents will refer to over and over again.

JEN DECKER, founder and director, the RE:Conference for foster and adoptive parents

This book is for all parents with children who have experienced trauma, neglect, and/or have been exposed to drugs and alcohol before birth. This will be an inspiration to parents who are desperately seeking answers to really challenging parenting situations. Mike and Kristin share their rich, relatable, and practical insights. This book is full of parenting wisdom! It is a must-read!

GARY FELDMAN, MD, Medical Director of Stramski Childrens Developmental Center at Miller Childrens & Womens Hospital, Long Beach, CA

Understanding the impact of early childhood trauma changes everything. It changes how we see ourselves, our children, and the people around us. Mike and Kristin Berry, adoptive parents of eight children, have handed us an amazing lens from which to view the life of those adults and children who have come through early-life traumatic experiences. Understanding the impact of trauma is one thing. Knowing how to navigate through the challenges and needs of children to lead them to healing is quite another. The Berrys have given us bothunderstanding and the how-toin this remarkable book, based on solid scientific grounding and their own life experiences. This would make a great book club study for foster and adoptive parents. I highly recommend this book.

JAYNE E. SCHOOLER, Director of Affiliate Training, Trauma Free World; author of Wounded Children, Healing Homes: How Traumatized Children Impact Adoptive and Foster Families

Mike and Kristin dont just talk the talk, they walk the walk day in and day out with their own marvelously diverse adoptive family. In a way that combines knowledge, heart, truth, and grace they break down complex trauma and attachment concepts in a way that is both accessible to parents and supported by stories of their own parenting experiences. Whether you are a newly adoptive parent or have been parenting for years, you will find precious gems within the pages of this book. If you are a clinician, using this book as a resource with parents will spark rich conversations and begin shifting paradigms.

PARIS GOODYEAR-BROWN, MSSW, LCSW, RPT-S, founder of Nurture House, director of the TraumaPlay Institute; author of Trauma and Play Therapy and A Safe Circle for Little U

Mike and Kristins brilliant work brings easy-to-understand and easily digestible language to the complex issue of childhood trauma and its impact on attachment. An absolute must-read for anyone caring for kids from hard places.

MICHELE SCHNEIDLER, President and COO of 1MILLIONHOME.com

Being able to form and maintain good relationships is critical for healthy development. And it all starts with attachmentthe deep early emotional bonds that set the stage for our future relationships. In Securely Attached, Mike and Kristin Berry walk the reader through the basics of attachmenthow it forms, how it gets disrupted, and what we can do to help heal it. Its a must-read for all adoptive and foster parents.

JOSHUA N. HOOK, PHD, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of North Texas; coauthor of Replanted: Faith-Based Support for Adoptive and Foster Families

Securely Attached is a book that captures the bold but delicate necessity of attachment in a clear and concise way. Parents and caregivers will come away with the opportunity to be open to new understanding about the complexities of attachment, practical ways to take beneficial action, as well as the importance of interactive ways to journal and connect to community along the way. Securely Attached is an educational, experiential, and compassionately composed book. A must-read for parents and caregivers who are raising trauma-impacted children.

CARRIE BLASKE, Certified Trainer, Empowered To Connect and Trauma Competent Caregiver

Securely Attached is the book for anyone considering foster parenting or adoption, as well as those on the journey of parenting children with a traumatic history! Mike and Kristin Berry paint a detailed description of the struggles parents will face, and provide practical tools to conquer them. The impact of trauma is real in these children, and in their parents! The more information parents have before fostering or adopting, the better equipped they will be to handle the challenges.

CARRIE O TOOLE, MA