Woodbury Reports, Inc.
Bonners Ferry, ID

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Adopted Adolescents in
Residential Treatment

Dr. Norm Thibault, PhD, LMFT
Executive Director and Founder of Three Points Center
on The Woodbury Report
Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Joining host Lon Woodbury today on The Woodbury Report on K4HD.com, was Dr. Norm Thibault, PhD who is the Executive Director and Founder of Three Points Center, a residential treatment center that was exclusively designed for adopted adolescents. As Norm shared, there is a "disproportionate amount of adopted kids in treatment programs. With numbers like 30-40 percent of kids enrolled in programs that are adopted, we have to look at the specific needs they have". Norm was adamant in pointing out that he was not talking about the majority of adopted youth- only those with clinical issues, that most adopted kids are fine.

"Infants know their mothers- they have developed bonds prenatally, and when a baby is taken there are traumatic and damaging effects, for them it is a grievous loss…even in a positive adoption. There is a certain degree to understanding that." For older children it is a little more challenging. Norm thinks it is best to tell children about their adoption right from the start, to be aware and careful how it is presented and to use assurance and clarity- that they know that they are yours forever and ever. He suggested that there are several books available on how to talk to kids about adoption and they can be wonderful resources in doing so.

In their program- Three Points Center, they work with kids on dealing with identity issues, sadness, and loss. Rather than zeroing in on the behaviors, they focus on what is going on underneath that, they focus on building relationships. For many adopted kids, those negative behaviors can be their survival skills. These kids can have issues with boundaries, trust, and suspiciousness, issues with self-concept: there are a lot of variables that shape us and who we are and even racial or bi-racial adoptions.

Three Point Center works with the child, the adopted parents and sometimes the birth parent and work to facilitate communication with them. After reaching out to a birth parent, the program prepares the child for a response and how to work with that or we work with them if they get no response, and how to deal with that. "It can be a delicate dance at times" Lon added. In talking about RAD- Reactive Attachment Disorder, Norm explained that they are "still learning about those children and believes the greatest need is to build relationships in a safe place." Norm explained that is what they do- they participate in shared activities and shared goals and build trusting relationships with them.

To contact Dr. Norm Thibault-
435-635-0636
Dr.Thibault@threepointscenter.com
www.threepointscenter.com