All parents have dreams for their children. They want their children to be happy, healthy, and successful in life. Parents of traumatized children hope for the same things; however, the steps needed to become successful are very different than the steps needed for a non-traumatized child. These children, because of their complex histories of abuse, neglect, and pre-natal drug/alcohol abuse, have difficulty concentrating, bonding, and fitting into a school environment. It is for these reasons that children that have been subject to extreme trauma are best suited to Homeschooling for at least a short period of time, because it allows for more parent, child attachment and bonding opportunities, and allows the combined age of the child to be addressed, thereby helping to minimizing PTSD reactions better than an IEP or 504 educational plan in traditional k-12 educational settings. .
Children adopted through either the foster care system or from institutions often have special requirements in addition to academics. In the "Report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and Attachment Problems" Mark Chaffin writes, "Some children who are maltreated described as having attachment related conditions show genuine and occasionally extreme behavioral and relationship disturbances and may be at risk for placement failures and other adverse outcomes" (2013, pg. 77). Children with attachment disorders thrive in environments that are stable, emotionally responsive, and predictable. For a neurotypical child, these needs were met in infancy, but the maladjusted child did not have these basic needs met, creating an inability to trust the adults around them to care for their basic needs (Chaffin, 2013). Chaffin goes on to explain "because attachment patterns develop within relationships, correcting attachment problems requires close attention to improving the stability and increasing the positive quality of parent-child relationship and parent-child interactions" (2013 pg.
