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Christian Family
Care Agency provides very specialized therapy for children of all
ages who suffer from attachment disorder.
The Attachment Therapy
Program serves foster and adopted children and their new families.
CFCA is the only agency in Maricopa County that provides an
Attachment Therapy Program to children up to 18 years of age and
their families (other agencies only provide such services to young
children up to 11 years of age and the families). CFCA's Attachment
Therapy Program treats children who have not bonded with an adult
because of profound abuse and neglect. They suffer from attachment
disorder, a condition that without professional intervention most
often results in these children becoming severely withdrawn, violent
and even sociopathic. Secure attachment is a vital emotional and
neurological developmental process that is normally accomplished
within the first five years of life. Thus time is critical: the
earlier in life that we begin treatment for attachment disorder, the
better the odds for the healing of distrust.
CFCA's Attachment
Therapy Program is much more time and therapy intensive than other
counseling programs - for many, the program is their "last hope". The Attachment Therapy Program requires high caliber
therapists. Qualifications include Masters degree in counseling or
clinical social work, licensed or licensable in the state of
Arizona, and experience in child therapy or attachment disorder. In
addition to healing therapy, the Attachment Therapist provides an
array of wrap-around services including individual case management,
attendance and participation in meetings regarding the family's
welfare (including school meetings), and parental support.
CFCA has earned an
impressive reputation for success with its Attachment Therapy
Program and, as a result, other agencies refer their most difficult
cases to us. In the past 12 months, 60 children (ages 2 to 17) and
their foster/adoptive families have been served through the
program.
Counselors
CFCA's counselors are
all Masters-level therapists, many of whom are Arizona Licensed
Professional Counselors or Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists.
In addition to extensive training, they bring practical life
experience to their work. They have been school teachers,
school counselors, social workers and missionaries.
Additionally, some are foster and adoptive parents.
Attachment Counseling
Counseling is available for children
and adolescents, and their families who need help with:
Specialized counseling is available for children struggling with:
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Attention Deficit Disorder
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
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Issues stemming from abandonment and neglect
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
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Oppositional Defiant Disorder
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Physical or sexual abuse or other trauma
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Post-traumatic stress disorder
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Reactive
Attachment Disorder
CFCA does not provide child custody evaluations for divorcing parents or parents who are disputing custody of their minor children.
Play Therapy
A child’s language is play. By using play therapy, sand tray therapy and art therapy, counselors help children suffering from various difficulties: divorce, separation, depression abuse, post-traumatic stress or the loss of a parent or family member. CFCA’s counselors can help with assessment, behavior management, social skills, anger management, self-control and emotional healing. Children lack the cognitive maturity to benefit from talking through their problems. In a play therapy session, the child is able to work through problems as they create a world they can master. They practice social skills, overcome frightening feelings, and symbolically triumph over the upsets and traumas that have stolen their sense of well-being.
A trained play therapist understands the metaphorical content of a child's play, and strives to help the child express their needs and discover solutions in a safe, therapeutic environment. Play is the child's natural method of learning, developing, and expressing their feelings. Play Therapy offers children the opportunity to use the power of their own natural creativity and imagination to heal and grow.
Play therapy takes place in a playroom, specially designed, decorated, and furnished with the toys and equipment children need to use as tools for the dramatic scenes they direct with the therapist. Parents are important allies in the play therapy process and can do much to support and enhance the work their child does in play therapy sessions. Therapists meet regularly with parents to learn what is happening in the child's life, to share important observations, and to give suggestions on how parents can support their child's therapy.
Children's families have varying degrees of functionality, their experiences are different and the symbolic themes they choose to play deviate considerably. The constant-with-children in play therapy is that they each know what they need to do when presented with a well-equipped playroom and a trained play therapist to accompany them on their journey of play. Children who can benefit from the process range from those who have had no major trauma in their lives to those who have suffered severe harm, abuse or neglect.
The following story illustrates how play therapy might be used with a child.
Nine year old Ashley's mother, Suzanne, called Christian Family Care Agency after learning from Ashley’s teacher that she was fighting on the playground and failing in nearly all subjects.
Suzanne brought Ashley to CFCA for counseling where she told Cara, the therapist, that Ashley had never had problems in school until last year. This was in spite of Ashley's father abandoning the family many years before. Cara asked if anything different had happened recently to upset Ashley. Suzanne reluctantly explained that about a year ago, Ashley had seen her ex-boyfriend hit her. She felt so ashamed that she had been a victim of domestic violence that she had never told anyone about the incident.
After hearing about Ashley, Cara explained play therapy to Suzanne, showed her the playroom, and suggested counseling for the little girl.
At Ashley's first appointment, Cara encouraged Ashley to explore the playroom and reassured her that it was a safe place. After looking around the room, Ashley placed some dolls in the dollhouse and began to show Cara what scared the dolls at night. As Ashley's play therapy unfolded, over multiple sessions, she replayed symbolically all the things that had traumatized her, even the abandonment by her father at an early age. Cara knew how to follow Ashley's lead in the play in order to help her get the results she needed from the experience.
This symbolic play continued until Ashley became empowered enough to overcome the problems in the scenarios. When this difficult stage was completed, the play changed to themes of everyday life, some with Ashley playing the role of a teacher telling a mother how wonderfully her child was doing in school.
Toward the end of therapy, Ashley repeated a significant scene from her earlier play; symbolically bidding farewell to the process that had empowered her. The final session was a party with refreshments of Ashley's choice, and a gift from Cara, especially chosen to honor the important work Ashley had completed.
As Cara and Suzanne met for the last time, Suzanne joyfully reported that Ashley's teacher had called to tell how much better Ashley was doing socially and academically. In fact, Ashley would make the honor role this quarter. Cara rejoiced with Suzanne, and also congratulated her on the growth she had made in her own life while Ashley was in therapy. Leaving therapy was both sad and happy for Ashley and Suzanne. They would miss Cara, but they knew there was help available should they ever need it again.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT PLAY THERAPY
What is play therapy?
Play therapy is to children what counseling is to adults. Play therapy utilizes play, children's natural medium of expression, to help them express their feelings by using toys instead of words.
What is sand tray therapy?
Sand Tray Therapy is a method used to allow children, and adults, to express them-selves through the manipulation of objects in small, tabletop sandboxes (or trays). Sand tray participants are invited to create a diorama (a story or miniature world) by arranging toy people, animals and other items in the sand tray. This non-invasive method works especially well with children who have difficulty comprehending and talking about difficult issues, such as trauma, abuse or the loss of a family member. After creating the world or scene, the therapist works with the child to come to a resolution for the situation that they’ve depicted.
What is art therapy?
Art therapy allows children to express themselves by painting, drawing, creating collages and working with clay. Art therapy has the same benefits as play and sand tray therapy in that it allows children to express themselves in a way that is easy for them to understand.
Why use play therapy?
Play Therapy is the most appropriate method of treatment for children who are having difficulties coping with life situations. Though children lack the cognitive skills to express themselves with words, they are fluent in the language of play. Play therapy allows them to express themselves in the way in which they are most comfortable.
How do you determine if a child needs play therapy?
Children may go through difficult times, such as the divorce of their parents, a death in the family, or adjusting to changes at school or home. Some children need more help than others to get through these times. If a parent, teacher or other adult in a child’s life is concerned about a child's behavior, play therapy may be helpful.
What toys are in a play therapy playroom and why?
Toys are carefully selected to facilitate creative and emotional expression from children. These may include puppets, dollhouses, paint and clay, to name just a few. The toys can be played with in many ways and therefore allow children to make choices and decisions. The toys are also safe, durable and sturdy to allow for repeated use and rough play.
How long does a child need to receive play therapy?
The length of time a child is seen in play therapy varies from child to child. It depends upon the severity of the trauma, the child's personality and how the child perceived the trauma.
What's the difference between play therapy and simply playing with my child at home?
Play therapists are specifically trained to provide an environment of acceptance, empathy and understanding in the play therapy room. Play therapy is not the same thing as playing. Play therapy uses the child's natural tendency to "play out" their reactions to life situations, in the presence of a trained play therapist, to help them feel accepted and understood and gain a sense of control or understanding of difficult situations.
What is group play therapy?
Group play therapy is similar to individual play therapy in many ways, but is different in that usually between two and four children spend their play therapy time together with one play therapist. Group play therapy provides children with the opportunity to learn and practice social skills in situations that are very similar to real life social situations.
Can a play therapist tell me if my child has been abused?
If you suspect abuse, your child can be referred for a formal abuse evaluation.
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Non-intrusive Attachment Therapy
Non-intrusive attachment therapy is used to treat children who have been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, a psychological disorder that occurs during the first three years of life when a child does not attach and bond properly to their primary caregiver, most often due to abuse or neglect. Fundamental processes do not occur resulting in on-going rage, fear of attaching to anyone, lack of trust, an unusual effort to control everything in their lives, a lack of self-worth, and an inability to fully comprehend cause and effect.
Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder often act out in an effort to feel safe. But in a perverse way, what they're trying to do is prove that no one is strong enough to be in control of them. They make efforts over and over to prove that they can’t be controlled, which then reinforces their fear that no one is strong enough to keep them safe. At the same time, they can be very manipulative, in extremely subtle ways.
Attachment therapy is a highly effective treatment for these children that seeks to re-establish bonds between the child and their primary care giver.
The following story illustrates how non-intrusive attachment therapy might be used with a child.
Daniel came to the attention of Child Protective Services at nine months of age when he sustained multiple fractures in his leg. His parents indicated that he had fallen outside and, since their story was somewhat plausible, he was allowed to remain with them. Two weeks later, Daniel was brought back to the hospital with facial bruises, multiple lacerations and bronchitis. At this point Daniel was removed from his home and placed with Dave and Laura. His foster parents noted that he was unusually quiet and appeared to be content to lie in his crib without much attention from them.
As time went by, Daniel began to respond to Dave and Laura; however at 15 months of age he was returned to his biological family. Within a month, he was back at the hospital, this time with a broken pelvis. Upon release from the hospital he was sent to a different foster home. The foster parents were not equipped to deal with a child in a body cast so he was moved again to yet another foster home and, once stabilized, was sent to live with relatives in another state. He remained in their care for approximately 18 months but when they could no longer care for him he was sent back to his home state.
Child Protective Services again placed Daniel with Dave and Laura, who welcomed a drastically different child back into their home. In less than four years, Daniel had suffered serious physical abuse and had been moved six times. He displayed severe tantrums, put holes in the walls and physically tried to hurt both family pets and his foster sibling. His behavior was totally unmanageable, even for his experienced foster parents.
When Dave and Laura came to CFCA, they had already seen other therapists who had unsuccessfully used client-centered play therapy with Daniel. A CFCA therapist, Julia, specially trained to work with severely abused and neglected children, evaluated Daniel and recognized his symptoms as Reactive Attachment Disorder. She recommended the family begin non-intrusive attachment therapy to help him form a bond, or attachment, with them and deal with his rage and anger.
Julia first educated Dave and Laura about attachment and bonding and taught them how to establish firm limits for Daniel. She also taught them attunement activities that they could repeat with Daniel at home.
Her therapy with Daniel focused on helping him form an attachment to his foster parents, process the grief and loss he’d already experienced in his young life and ultimately work through the trauma of profound abuse and neglect.
During therapy Julia used collages, clay, puppets and other tools to help Daniel express extreme fear, anger and sadness and work through the rage he felt due to extreme abuse and neglect.
After several months of therapy, Dave and Laura saw changes in Daniel. He had fewer emotional outbursts and was able to show more self-control. He more readily displayed affection to them on their terms and was less likely to offer indiscriminate affection to strangers. Laura was even able to enroll him in pre-school two days per week. As they saw progress, Dave and Laura were encouraged and felt able to continue to have Daniel in their home. In fact, they even began considering permanently adopting him.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT
ATTACHMENT THERAPY
What are the signs of attachment difficulties?
Some of the most common signs are a child who:
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is manipulative; superficially engaging and charming
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is not affectionate on parents’ terms
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lacks eye contact
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offers indiscriminate affection with strangers
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is destructive to self, others and material things -
is accident prone
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is cruel to animals
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steals
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lies for no apparent reason when it would have been just as easy to tell the truth
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has no impulse controls
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has learning and speech disorders
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lacks cause and effect thinking
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lacks a conscience
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hoards food
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has poor peer relationships
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is pre-occupied with fire or gore
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persistently questions and chatters
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is inappropriately demanding and clingy
Who gets Reactive Attachment Disorder?
Any child who lives through separation, neglect, or multiple caregivers in the first three years of their life can suffer from Reactive Attachment Disorder. It can even develop in-utero. It is most often seen in children who have been adopted from foster care, or post-institutionalized children, like those who have been in a foreign orphanage.
Aren’t children
that have been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder just “being kids?”
No. All children occasionally test parental limits. Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder on the other hand, misbehave in an attempt to control their world and enrage those who care about them. Their behavior is not simply “childish.” It is symptomatic of a serious psychological disorder.
What is the goal of non-intrusive attachment therapy?
Attachment therapy seeks to help a child:
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Accept love, affection and nurturing on their parent’s terms
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Resolve issues around his or her past abuse or neglect
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Decrease conduct problems
How long does a child need to receive attachment therapy?
It's difficult to know how long treatment will take as every child and every situation is different; however therapy generally lasts six months to several years. As a general rule, the younger the child is when the treatment begins and the less severe the trauma they experienced, the less time treatment will take.
What is therapeutic parenting?
Therapeutic parenting is a specialized style of parenting prescribed for parents by a behavioral health professional to deal with extremely difficult children.
What is the end result for children with Reactive Attachment Disorder if they don’t get appropriate therapy?
As children with Reactive Attachment Disorder get older, without treatment, their effort to control their lives intensifies, and the level of their violence increases. Treatment before the age of 12 has an extremely high success rate. After that, the positive outcomes decrease. Some older children who do not receive treatment early enough, or who get improper treatment, end up in residential treatment centers because their parents are unable to manage their violent and manipulative behaviors at home. As adults, these individuals often end up in prison or exhibit one of several personality disorders such as anti-social, narcissistic or borderline psychotic.
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FEES
CFCA is a non-profit organization and the cost of providing services exceeds the fees charged for those services. Counseling fees vary by counselor and the type of counseling received. Fees are modifiable based on income and family size, and are discussed with each client at the first session.
INSURANCE
CFCA
may be able to accept some insurance plans; check with your intake
worker or call for more information.
To talk to someone at Christian Family Care Agency
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In Phoenix/Northern Arizona,
call
602.266.TALK
In Tucson/Southern Arizona,
call 520.296.TALK
or submit the
Request
Information Form on
the Contact page.
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ATTACHMENT RESOURCES
Workshops/Seminars/Training Classes
Call about our
"Therapeutic Parenting" classes.
In Phoenix/Northern Arizona,
call
602.266.TALK
In Tucson/Southern Arizona,
call 520.296.TALK
or submit the
Request
Information Form on
the Contact page.
CFCA Resource Library
The CFCA Resource Library
is available for community use. The library, created through a grant
received from Ronald McDonald House Charities, includes books focused
on adoption, foster care and parenting. It specifically provides
resources for families who are parenting children with special needs,
particularly those children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned.
Additionally, the library includes a broad selection of illustrated
stories about adoption for both preschool- and school-aged children.
The library, which includes more than 1,000 books and videos, is located
in the Phoenix office at 3603 North 7th Avenue and is open during the
Agency's regular business hours.
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