A Thoughtful Look at a Family’s Struggle with RAD
Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother’s Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder is award-winning journalist Tina Traster’s new memoir detailing her journey to motherhood through international adoption.
Like many Eastern European adoptees, Traster’s Siberian-born daughter Julia struggles with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). If you’re not familiar with the condition, RAD is characterized by a lack of bonding with caregivers and extreme difficulty forming personal relationships. It is typically seen in children who were abandoned or neglected in their early years.
Rescuing Julia Twice discusses the feelings Tina and her husband struggled with as they searched for a way to help their little girl feel safe and secure. Because Julia seemed exceptionally well behaved to the casual observer, they often felt like they were imagining or exaggerating her condition.
Finding other adoptive parents who were dealing with similar problems made them realize that Julia could be helped and that her issues were not a result of their inexperience as parents.
I admit that I do not know much about RAD, other than the tidbits gleaned from news stories of parents struggling with children who suffer from this condition. Rescuing Julia gives you an interesting look at RAD through a mother’s perspective.
However, please keep in mind that Tina is a journalist and not a child psychologist or medical doctor. Her family’s methods were somewhat unconventional and it’s not advisable to make any treatment decisions for your own child based on one person’s experience.
Rescuing Julia Twice ends on a high note, but Julia is just five and you can’t help but wonder what’s in store for her future. I hope Traster considers writing a follow up once Julia is a teen or young adult.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Photo credit: Amazon
