Toxic stress: Its impact on adopted children and their new families

Toxic stress is more likely to affect children who developed in the context of overcrowded group care or who lived in chaotic, neglectful or abusive early environments.

Understanding how these experiences impact early development and behavior can help new parents provide healing relationships and ultimately reduce the long-term effects of toxic stress.

The videos below provide parents with a framework for understanding how children's pre-adoptive experiences can create biological memories and impact their relationship with their new families. The videos offer specific suggestions for supporting parent-child relationships and promoting positive family functioning.

Resources

We have chosen the sites listed below because we believe they provide accurate, reliable information that focus on education and support. Inclusion on this list does not necessarily imply endorsement, nor do we guarantee the accuracy of the information contained on these sites.

Information about toxic stress

• Harvard Center on the Developing Child, video series
• Interview with Bruce Perry, MD, PhD
• Trauma, Brain & Relationship: Helping Children Heal
• Parenting After Trauma: Understanding Your Child's Needs
• Pediatrician's Guide to Toxic Stress (from the American Academy of Pediatrics)
• Parental Self-Care Inventory

Related websites

• Child Trauma Academy (Bruce Perry, MD, PhD)
• Institute of Child Development (Karyn Purvis, PhD)
• Beyond Consequences (Heather Forbes, LCSW)
• National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network (search for: “What is child traumatic stress, Invisible suitcase, Caring for children who have experienced trauma”)

Related books

• The Whole Brain Child
• Parenting from the Inside Out
• The Connected Child
• Nurturing Adoptions
• I Love You Rituals
• Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control
• The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

Grand Rounds

• 8/4/2017: Toxic Stress Q&A