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10/29/2026

These sentences speak volumes 🤍

10/16/2026

Anybody else??

The impact of raising a child with complex developmental trauma is far reaching and has consequences for the whole family.

Unfortunately, the primary caregiver often experiences fatigue and burnout that is hard to overcome.

Read more about caregiver burnout and the concept of blocked care here: https://radadvocates.org/blog/blocked-care-parenting-a-child-with-reactive-attachment-disorder/

10/07/2026

We hit a milestone this week: Salvo has its first monthly donor!

Here's why this matters more than the dollar amount. A family in the middle of a RAD crisis doesn't need help once. They need specialized care that lasts longer than a single appointment, and that takes people willing to stay committed month after month. A monthly gift is exactly that kind of commitment.

Our donor (you know who you are) chose to be the first to sign up, and we're grateful beyond words. Every month, this gift helps a post-adoptive family afford the developmental trauma services they need.

If you've been wondering how to get in the fight with us, this is one way. 💚

10/05/2026

Just another day in the RAD life...

“You never know what you don't know?”

09/22/2026

I've never met an adoptive family who wasn't planning on a happy ending.

No one signs up hoping their story becomes a cautionary tale — hoping people will cringe, or that they'll end up isolated and alone, wondering what they did wrong. Adoptive parents walk in with the same hopes every parent has: a family, a home, a future for their kids. They know it will be hard. They make space, on purpose, for the trauma and loss their child carries with them into that home.

But those aren't the stories we put on stage. The happy endings get the spotlight — the big reveal, the forever-family photo. The hard years in between, the ones full of rage and fear and grief that has nowhere else to go, stay behind closed doors. We don't know what to do with them, so we look away.

Here's what I want you to sit with: those stories don't have to stay hidden or stay hard. What if your partnership with Salvo— your time, your financial support — was the thing that moved a family from surviving to healing? What if the happy ending wasn't the exception, but something we built together, on purpose?

Here's my challenge to you: Don't just read this post. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐨.

Give, learn, and share.

Do something that moves one more family from surviving toward a happy ending.

Your donation helps Salvo provide trauma-informed education, resources, and support for adoptive families raising children affected by early childhood trauma.

09/13/2026

With Adoption Awareness Month just around the corner in November, we want to share YOUR story.

Here's what rarely gets said out loud: some of the families who said yes to "caring for the orphan" are now the families the church doesn't know how to care for anymore.

Not because the need went away. Because their child's developmental trauma or Reactive Attachment Disorder didn't fit the story anyone was prepared for. And most churches were never given the training to walk through it alongside them. So the support that showed up at placement day quietly faded. What was left in its place, for too many of our families, was shame. Isolation. A feeling of being abandoned — even betrayed — by the very community that once stood behind them.

We refuse to let that go unspoken. And we don't want to summarize it for you. We want to hear it in your words!

This Adoption Awareness Month, we're asking RAD families to share a piece of your story: a moment, a hard day, a turning point — anything that shows what it's actually like to raise a child with developmental trauma or RAD, especially when the support you expected wasn't there.

💬 Share a piece of your story in the comments below. If you'd rather tell it anonymously, submit it here: https://forms.gle/c8oPWMUGVdaTBbbN7

We may feature it as part of our November series, so churches and families considering adoption can hear it directly from you.

Tag a family whose story deserves to be heard too. This November, let's tell the whole story.

09/04/2026

Salvo wants to help you bring this training into your church community! Send us an email for more info: [email protected]

“Reactive attachment disorder is a serious brain disorder that requires extensive intervention not only for the child, but the entire family of that child. Unfortunately, many clinicians treat RAD in the same way they do attachment issues which often make matters worse.”
— Amy VanTine, CEO of RAD Advocates

Developmental trauma creates real family crisis. Children and families shouldn’t manage it alone.

Competent. High-achieving. Deeply committed parents reach crisis trying to manage a serious childhood mental health disorder — alone.

Children struggle with a brain disorder that goes unrecognized. Siblings experience trauma.

Developmental trauma creates real strain on the entire family system. That’s the reality. The child is struggling. Parents burn out. Families fracture.

But children with developmental trauma and their families shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone.

Communities need to understand this disorder. Professionals need training. Systems need resources. Countries need policy. Children and families need support.

RAD Advocates educates families and professionals about developmental trauma. We provide guidance, advocacy, and community. We need grassroots awareness and policy change — and you can help.

Parents and professionals: share this post.

Help your communities understand developmental trauma. Visit radadvocates.org to learn more and get involved.

Read more: radadvocates.org/post/families-in-crisis-first-support-later-a-costly-pattern-in-reactive-attachment-disorder

08/25/2026

Salvo is here to help parents find the shore.

I found this in a group today, and it stopped me in my tracks.

**“There is something particularly cruel about criticizing the way someone swims while they are drowning.

People who love you don’t critique your survival. They help you find the shore.”**

How many of us have lost people along the way while parenting a child with RAD?

I did.

At one of the lowest points of my life, I lost an important parent figure - and my kids lost a grandparent. The reason given was my “negative parenting.”

And here’s the hard part: I understand what they were seeing.

I wasn’t in a good place. I wasn’t parenting from the place I wanted to parent from. I was overwhelmed, reactive, exhausted and surviving from one crisis to the next.

What I didn’t understand was how far underwater I already was.

Not long afterward, I was diagnosed with PTSD, high blood pressure, severe anxiety and dissociation.

I hadn’t jumped into the deep end one day and suddenly started drowning.

The water rose slowly.

A little more stress.
A little less sleep.
Another crisis.
Another phone call.
Another appointment.
Another explosion.
Another thing broken.
Another plan canceled.
Another night spent wondering what tomorrow was going to bring.

Year after year.

And somewhere along the way, surviving became normal.

That’s the part I wish more people understood about parents raising kids with RAD and other high-needs behaviors. Sometimes we don’t know we’re drowning because we’ve been treading water for so damn long that we think that’s just what living feels like.

I’m incredibly grateful for the people who saw what was happening and didn’t walk away.

The people who said, “Hey, I’m worried about you.”

The people who helped me recognize things weren’t okay without making me feel like I was the problem.

The people who stayed while I figured out how to swim toward shore.

Today, self-care is a huge part of my life - not because I’ve suddenly become one of those people who has mastered bubble baths and inner peace. It’s because I’ve learned what happens when I continually put myself last.

I take space. I close the door. I say no. I protect pieces of my life that have absolutely nothing to do with RAD. I do things that remind me that I’m still a whole person outside of being someone’s mom.

Because I never want to get so far underwater again that I don’t realize I’m drowning.

And if you’re watching a RAD parent struggle right now, maybe before criticizing the way they’re swimming, ask yourself whether what they actually need is someone willing to help them find the shore.

08/13/2026

I advocated the heck out of their diagnosis with teachers and school staff. 504's, IEP's, volunteered at the school (is that even still a thing?). Still, the question marks never went away.

It's not easy, it's exhausting, and nothing was ever smooth sailing BUT it definitely made a difference in many situations that could have been far worse.

Many families are sending their children back into the classroom this month, and while it can be an exciting time, for many families caring for children with reactive attachment disorder, it can be a time of extreme chaos and stress as well.

Read here about effectively communicating the special needs in the classroom that come with a RAD diagnosis and find tools to share directly from our experts.

https://www.radadvocates.org/post/the-best-approach-to-educate-your-child-s-educators-about-reactive-attachment-disorder

Not a member? Join at radadvocates.org/join

08/05/2026

"It was a good night."

That's how one mom described an evening that included disrupted strangers at a dinner theater, constant redirection, and a running commentary on everything that wasn't perfect enough. She took her daughter to see Matilda, a story they both love, and by most measures, it was a mess.

But compared to daily life in their home — cameras in nearly every room, alarms on the doors, locks on bedroom doors and the pantry, counting food because a full fridge in the morning can be empty by afternoon — it really was a good night.

Our newest blog post is written by a parent raising a child with severe developmental trauma and RAD. It's an honest look at what safety and love can look like when a child's nervous system was wired for survival, not connection. It's not asking for sympathy. It's asking for understanding.

If you've ever driven home from an "ordinary" night feeling like it was a miracle, this one's for you.

An honest look at what safety and love can look like when a child's nervous system was wired for survival, not connection. Written by a mom asking for understanding.