Adoption Trauma by Allison Davis Maxon, LMFT

This article is written by NCAP's COO, Allison Davis Maxon, LMFT and was featured in the September 2017 issue of Fostering Families Today.

Article Excerpt

Let’s be clear . . . for the infant, child or teen, adoption is a traumatic experience. The trauma of forever losing one’s maternal and paternal family tree, lineage, cultural identity, genetic mirroring, relationships, siblings and other connections will be experienced and felt throughout the entirety of the child’s life. These losses to the child are traumatic, overwhelming and will linger across the entire life span. Through every stage of development, as the child’s understanding of adoption grows, the well of loss and pain deepens.

Click here to download and read the entire article.

About Allison Maxon, LMFT

Allison is a clinician, educator, and advocate specializing in adoption/permanency, attachment, and trauma. She is passionate about creating systems of care that are permanency-competent and strength-based. She has expertise in the fields of child welfare and mental health and is currently the chief operating officer of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. Allison is co-author and master trainer of ACT: An Adoption and Permanency Curriculum for Child Welfare and Mental Health Professionals, co-author and master trainer of Pathways to Permanence: Parenting the Child of Loss and Trauma, and creator of The Ten Things Your Child Needs every day, a DVD with tools that help parents/caregivers strengthen their attachment relationship with their child. You can reach

Contact Allison at amaxon@ncap-us.org or 949- 939-9016