Sara: The single mother of an adopted child with reactive attachment disorder called the JGH Transitional Care Team to express her fear that her child would be denied re-entry to school after a suspension. Our team convened a meeting with mother and school personnel, and learned that home and school had been working against each other, each in a reactive state, culminating with an increase in the child’s negative behaviour.
Our work helped the school personnel to understand the child’s and mother’s actions, and eased their concerns about being able to manage the child in a regular school setting. The team provided school personnel with support and strategies to contain the disruptive behaviour, and helped the mother to understand the challenges the school faced in caring for her daughter’s aggressive, avoidant behaviour. With the support of the weekly follow-up calls, the mother’s reactive, overly protective and dismissive behaviour began to lessen, and the relationship with the school improved.
Rose and David Bloomfield Family Transitional Care Program 