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See What RAD Really Looks Like

Sometimes the most powerful thing is hearing from someone with real experience. Our video library includes stories from those parenting a child with RAD, insights from our founders and advocates, and additional resources we have found valuable along the way. Whether you are new to reactive attachment disorder or have been navigating it for years, there is something here for you.

  • Reactive Attachment Disorder: Two Daughters, Two Very Different Paths

    August 31, 2026

    Daphne* adopted two sisters through the child welfare system, both carrying early trauma, both needing very different things. In this interview, she shares what it actually took to get her daughter access to the safety and structured care she needed, years of asking a system for help and getting nothing, a false allegation, threats of neglect charges, and finally learning to say one plain, repeated thing until someone listened: "We cannot keep her safe."

  • Reactive Attachment Disorder: A Foster Mom on Custody, Violence, and Being Blamed by the System

    August 31, 2026

    Dawn and her husband became emergency foster parents, and what started as a 90-day placement became permanent legal custody of a little girl whose tribe wouldn't allow her parental rights to be terminated. What they didn't know yet was that their daughter would later be diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, and that the violence, the denial, and the blame that followed would push their whole family to the brink.

  • They Adopted a Child With Reactive Attachment Disorder — Then Built the Tools That Help Others

    June 16, 2026

    When Misty and Jeff adopted a 6-year-old boy from foster care, they were ready to do the work. What they weren't prepared for was years of escalating behaviors, a system that offered no real answers, and a disorder — reactive attachment disorder (RAD) — that no one mentioned until their son was a teenager.

  • Protecting the Idea of Success | RAD Sibling Wisdom from NavRAD26

    June 11, 2026

    This powerful perspective comes from a young adult who grew up with a sibling with reactive attachment disorder, speaking at NavRAD26.

  • Amy VanTine Introduces Forrest Lien | A Clinician Who Finally Gets Reactive Attachment Disorder

    April 28, 2026

    "This man saved my life. And I mean that literally."

  • From Expert to RAD Parent: What Lauren Learned When She Didn't See It Coming

    April 9, 2026

    Lauren Henderson has a master's degree in psychology, works as a family and parent coach, and was a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner before she became an adoptive parent. She knew about reactive attachment disorder. She just didn't know her daughter had it — at first.

  • "She Finished Our Sentences" — A RAD Dad's Honest Review of RAD Advocates | Filmed at NavRAD

    March 16, 2026

    This is a short clip from Rich's full interview, available on our YouTube channel.

  • "Is This Real? It's Very Much Real." — A RAD Dad's Honest Take on NavRAD

    March 16, 2026

    This is a short clip from Rich's full interview, available on our YouTube channel.

  • "She Finished Our Sentences" — A RAD Dad's Honest Review of RAD Advocates | Filmed at NavRAD

    March 10, 2026

    If you're parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder and feel like no one understands what you're going through, this is for you. Filmed at NavRAD, Rich opens up about the isolation, the exhaustion, and the moment everything shifted — including what weekly coaching with RAD Advocates actually looked like for his family.

  • The One Word Change That Got Us Help: RAD Rages Explained

    March 3, 2026

    After years of calling her son's rages "tantrums," a social worker gave Keri Williams life-changing advice. She said: "You have to stop calling these tantrums. These are rages. And you'll get more help if you use the word rage."

  • RAD Advocates. Guiding from Experience. Leading for Change.

    January 26, 2026

    In this raw and honest clip from NavRAD24, Sage shares what it was like growing up in a family where her adoptive siblings were impacted by reactive attachment disorder.

  • Growing Up as a RAD Sibling: Monica Badgley’s Story

    January 26, 2026

    In this moving clip from NavRAD, Monica Badgley, founder of RAD Sibs, shares her deeply personal story of growing up as a “glass child” in a family impacted by reactive attachment disorder.

  • Haitian Adoption, Developmental Trauma, and a System That Failed Us

    January 6, 2026

    Parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) or developmental trauma disorder can push families into situations most people never see — and systems that often misunderstand them.

  • The Impact of Chronic Stress on Health

    December 15, 2025

    Parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder (developmental trauma) can take a profound toll on the entire family — physically, mentally, and emotionally. In this clip, Cherie shares the cost of years spent living in survival mode: chronic stress, no room to rest, escalating crises, and the impact it had on her own health and the health of everyone in her home.

  • Cancer Brought Support. Developmental Trauma Brought Blame.

    December 1, 2025

    In 2024, Cherie was diagnosed with the most severe form of bilateral breast cancer. She received deep, consistent support — meal trains, cards, encouragement, and compassion. But years earlier, when she and her husband were navigating the realities of severe developmental trauma disorder with their children, that same support was nowhere to be found. Join RAD Advocates in continuing to support, educate and advocate for families like Cherie's. Visit radadvocates.org and click the Donate button.

  • A Grateful Message From RAD Advocates Founder Amy VanTine

    November 27, 2025

    Founder and CEO Amy VanTine shares a brief holiday message for the families, members, donors, and supporters who make the work of RAD Advocates possible.

  • "Listen to the parents."

    November 19, 2025

    When we asked Forrest Lien, LCSW, what he’d tell outpatient therapists working with families navigating reactive attachment disorder, his answer was simple: “Listen to the parents.”

  • The Pain You Don’t See: Parenting Through Reactive Attachment Disorder

    November 14, 2025

    Parenting reactive attachment disorder is a battle most people never see — and too often, families face it with judgment instead of support. In this powerful interview, Cherie shares why parenting developmental trauma brought more fear, isolation, and emotional pain than surviving aggressive cancer.

  • "NavRAD saved our lives."

    November 14, 2025

    When Cherie and her husband walked into their first NavRAD, they were at a breaking point — exhausted, terrified, and feeling invisible.

  • Forrest Lien, LCSW, on Reactive Attachment Disorder — Listening to Parents, Building Real Help

    November 5, 2025

    Clinician Forrest Lien, LCSW, reflects on four decades working with children and families affected by developmental trauma. In this interview, he explains why traditional behavior-mod approaches fall short, how listening to parents changes the work, and what real, family-centered support can look like — in the therapy room and at home.

  • “I Thought the Mom Was Crazy”: Rachael and Monte Hawkins on Learning the Truth About RAD

    October 2, 2025

    Rachael and Monte Hawkins, owners of Life Quest Girls Academy, share how RAD Advocates helped them understand reactive attachment disorder from a parent’s perspective after years of working with students who carried the diagnosis. This interview was filmed on location at NavRAD, RAD Advocates’ biennial event for families.

  • Living with Reactive Attachment Disorder: A Doctor’s Journey from Parent to Advocate

    January 10, 2025

    Dr. Madrid had never encountered reactive attachment disorder during his medical training. It wasn’t until he and his wife Whanda faced the disorder as parents that they learned about it and began to grasp its complexity. They donate to RAD Advocates to create awareness and training with the hopes that other families don't need to experience what they have.

  • Turning Pain into Purpose: Why This Mom Donates to RAD Advocates

    December 19, 2024

    Whanda found RAD Advocates through a random search on Instagram about reactive attachment disorder (RAD).

  • Behind the Scenes of Developmental Trauma Parenting: The Nurturing Enemy

    September 18, 2024

    The term nurturing enemy is originally attributed to Nancy Verrier from her book The Primal Wound. Verrier refers to the nurturing enemy as the primary caregiver of a child with complex developmental trauma, otherwise known as reactive attachment disorder (RAD). These are children who experienced trauma during critical stages of early development and struggle with the impacts left on the brain. Although often the mother figure, any primary caregiver can become the nurturing enemy.

  • NavRAD: A Speaker Perspective from Tara and Scott

    March 28, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD, On Location: CEO Amy VanTine & COO Heather Houze

    March 15, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD: A Parent's Perspective from Kym and Christa

    March 13, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD: You have to experience it to understand.

    March 8, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD: A Parent's Perspective from Frank and Cathy

    March 5, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD: A Parent's Perspective from Stacey

    February 29, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • NavRAD: A Parent's Perspective from Aimee and Chris

    February 20, 2024

    Aimee and Chris attended NavRAD for the second time to refresh what they had learned and with a different perspective as their family situation has changed. They also found relief in connecting with other families. "It can feel so isolating," says Aimee. Join us for NavRAD24 April 19-21, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas to find your people and a path forward through parenting children with developmental trauma.

  • The NavRAD Experience, a Parent Perspective from Jesse and Jessica

    February 6, 2024

    NavRAD is an experience unlike any other available for those parenting children with developmental trauma disorder (currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder or RAD). It's a chance to connect with other parents who also feel incredibly alone. And it provides parents a guided opportunity to create a path forward through the confusing and highly misunderstood disorder that's unique to their wishes and situation. Many also bring friends and family to learn about the disorder and ways to support them.

  • On Supporting RAD Parents at NavRAD

    January 17, 2024

    "My heart goes out to the families that have friends and family who don't believe them," says Daneta Sims, friend of a woman parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder. Sims encourages friends and family of RAD families to attend NavRAD, the event for those parenting kids with RAD, to support them and learn more.

  • Friends of a woman parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder share their NavRAD experience

    December 29, 2023

    Those parenting children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) are in desperate need of understanding and support from friends, family and professionals. These women attended NavRAD with their dear friend, a single mom of a child with RAD, so they could do so. Here about their NavRAD experience, the plan-building and connection-making guided experience for those raising kids with reactive attachment disorder held by RAD Advocates.

  • A Chat with RAD Advocates Amy & Heather, Behind-the-Scenes of the Grassroots Organization

    November 29, 2023

    RAD Advocates COO Heather Houze and CEO Amy VanTine talk about how RAD Advocates began, how it's going and what makes them keep moving forward on behalf of families parenting children with reactive attachment disorder.

  • Don't miss the Navigating Reactive Attachment Disorder Experience.

    October 17, 2023

    Don't miss the next annual plan-building and connection-making guided experience for those raising kids with reactive attachment disorder.

  • Why Attend NavRAD? A parent's perspective.

    August 31, 2023

    Angela chats about her experience at the Navigating Reactive Attachment Disorder experience.

  • Why Attend the Reactive Attachment Disorder experience? Scott Smith, Best Choice Admissions

    August 31, 2023

    As a professional with years of experience working with families who struggle to find placements for their children, Scott chats about the benefits of NavRAD attendance.

  • Reactive Attachment Disorder: "It's so much more common than they say."

    August 31, 2023

    After years of working with parents needing residential placement for their children, she gives first-hand insight into the so-called "rare" affliction of reactive attachment disorder. She chats about the place for RAD Advocates and the annual NavRAD experience.

  • Why Attend the Navigating Reactive Attachment Disorder Experience, a Mom's Take

    August 30, 2023

    Lisa, mother to a 13-year-old girl with reactive attachment disorder, chats about how NavRAD is different from other events for RAD parents.

  • Why This Mom Attended the Navigating Reactive Attachment Disorder Experience

    August 30, 2023

    Kathy chats about why she attends the Navigating Reactive Attachment Disorder experience as a RAD parent.

  • Why Attend NavRAD? With Monica Badgley of RAD Sibs

    August 18, 2023

    Navigating RAD is an experience made just for those raising children with reactive attachment disorder. Led by your guides, RAD Advocates, we get straight to the heart of the real issues of living with RAD. No matter where you are in the journey, NavRAD is for you. Get your tickets while they last and join us this October.

  • Tracey's Take on NavRAD, the Experience for Those Raising Kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder

    August 9, 2023

    Navigating RAD isn't really a conference, it's an experience made just for those raising children with reactive attachment disorder. Led by your guides, RAD Advocates, we get straight to the heart of the real issues of living with RAD. No matter where you are in the journey, NavRAD is for you. Get your tickets while they last and join us this October.

  • RAD Advocates. Guiding from Experience. Leading for Change.

    May 19, 2023

    Navigating RAD isn't really a conference, it's an experience made just for those raising children with reactive attachment disorder. Led by your guides, RAD Advocates, we get straight to the heart of the real issues of living with RAD. No matter where you are in the journey, NavRAD is for you.

  • Navigating RAD 2023, the third-annual plan-building and connection-making experience for RAD parents

    May 10, 2023

    Navigating RAD isn't really a conference, it's an experience made just for those raising children with reactive attachment disorder. Led by your guides, RAD Advocates, we get straight to the heart of the real issues of living with RAD. No matter where you are in the journey, NavRAD is for you.

  • The NavRAD Experience: Carrie O'Toole chats about why parents of kids with RAD should attend

    April 12, 2023

    NavRAD isn't just a conference. It's a guided experience for those raising kids with reactive attachment disorder to connect and create a personal plan forward. RAD Advocates brings NavRAD to a different state each year to bring that experience to as many people as possible.

  • Why attend NavRAD? Author/speaker Keri Williams shares what makes it unique.

    March 28, 2023

    NavRAD isn't really a conference. It's a guided experience for those raising kids with reactive attachment disorder to connect and create a personal plan forward. RAD Advocates brings NavRAD to a different state each year to bring that experience to as many people as possible.

  • Haley, RAD Advocates member

    March 13, 2023

    Haley chats about how she became a RAD Advocates member as a parent of a child with reactive attachment disorder.

  • A Chat with Ryan, Part II: How the Education Gap Hurts RAD families

    March 2, 2023

    Ryan Brunner, psychology professor and RAD parent, understands the RAD education gap firsthand. He explains how the lack of exposure regarding reactive attachment disorder in higher education ultimately damages families.

  • A Chat with Ryan: His Way to Educate Professionals About RAD

    March 2, 2023

    Ryan Brunner, psychology professor and parent of a child with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), chats about his work on the education committee with RAD Advocates. He discusses how the lack of information about RAD in higher education impacts families raising children with RAD and ways he's helping make change.

  • A Chat with Ryan, Part IV: Why Support RAD Advocates?

    March 2, 2023

    It can feel impossible to make a difference in the way people understand reactive attachment disorder. Ryan Brunner, RAD Advocates volunteer and parent, chats about why he supports RAD Advocates.

  • A Chat with Ryan, Part III: The Isolation of RAD Parenting

    March 2, 2023

    Ryan, RAD Advocates volunteer and parent, chats about the isolation of RAD parenting and the critical need for support. @radadvocates4014

  • RAD Support Matters

    December 22, 2022

    Amy & Patrick were in a dark place with their daughter with RAD when they reached out to RAD Advocates. Thankfully, they found help when they needed it. Give support to families like them through the RAD Advocates scholarship fund. radadvocates.org/join

  • Together, we're stronger RAD advocates.

    May 10, 2022

    Thank you for progressing the movement to create awareness and support for families of children with reactive attachment disorder.

  • In celebration of RAD moms and all who stand beside them

    April 26, 2022

    Those who raise tough kids with reactive attachment disorder, the result of early trauma, are tough themselves. They're not given nearly the credit they deserve. Please help us celebrate and support RAD mamas everywhere this mother's day.

Short answers

Short videos covering a range of topics related to developmental trauma disorder.

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