Attachment Services of Central Florida, Inc. Attachment Services

Healing the Broken Hearts of Children and Families

Attachment Services of Central Florida, Inc. is a non-profit organization (501 c 3)established to provide support, education, training, prevention and therapeutic intervention for children, families and communities impacted by Reactive Attachment Disorder and other childhood mental health issues.

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is a condition generally linked to children who have been abused and/or neglected or have suffered from medically related unrelieved pain during the child's first two to three years of life. It is now believed that attachment begins as early as conception and that even children adopted at birth into loving, supportive homes can be the victims of unresolved attachment difficulties.

Most of these children are currently in the homes of loving parents who have given their hearts to these troubled children and can't understand why everything is going so wrong. Adoption is NOT a cause of RAD, but the lack of appropriate care that brings a child into the child welfare system or the isolation and lack of stimulation in foreign orphanages, which frequently precede adoption, can result in Reactive Attachment Disorder or less serious attachment issues.

Our goal is to help these children and their families heal by providing the necessary services to the child, parents and family, and everyone involved in the child's life, to insure that the appropriate treatment and support systems are in place. Without it, families are being destroyed.

What Is Reactive Attachment Disorder?

Reactive Attachment Disorder can be devastating to the family attempting to raise a child impacted by this disorder. The child does not suffer in isolation, but traumatizes those most wanting to give him love.

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is the result of a lack of appropriate, consistent, timely care giving from conception through the first two to three years of life. As a result, the child with RAD has not developed trust in others or a positive self-concept. Instead, they view the world as a dangerous place where they must be in control of everything and everyone in their environment or they will DIE. They trust no one and see themselves as inherently bad.

Symptoms of RAD include:

Lack of eye contact

Incessant chatter

Chronic lies

Superficially charming and engaging with strangers

Lack of affection toward mom

Extreme control issues

Sneaky

Destructive to self and others

Cruel to animals and/or younger children

Lacking impulse control

Learning lags or disorders