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From the Trenches: Honest Accounts from RAD Warrior Families

Mon, 18 May 2026 14:27:19 GMT

"Our family is currently navigating the heartbreaking reality of trying to find appropriate healing, stabilization, and long-term support for our son. He has significant trauma-related emotional, behavioral, and attachment needs stemming from severe early childhood adversity while in utero and foster care. He currently has diagnoses including PTSD, along with significant disruptive behavioral symptoms and possible Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Professionals familiar with his case have also identified severe Reactive Attachment Disorder traits. His struggles impact nearly every aspect of daily family life."

Salvo Family E

Shortly after we were married, we felt deeply called to care for the orphan and fatherless. We walked into our local family services office with a heart and desire to love and care for vulnerable children. After completing the process, we committed to providing respite care for foster families.

One day, we received a call about a 1-year-old little boy whose parental rights had already been terminated through foster care. He needed permanency, stability, and a family to love him. Just two hours later, he arrived on our doorstep. We immediately fell in love with him, and in time we joyfully adopted him into our family as our son. At the time, we did not fully understand the deep effects trauma can have on a child’s brain, attachment, emotions, and development. We faced difficult and challenging moments over the years, but we continued pouring out love, support, and commitment into his life.

He is now 4 years old, and about a year ago his behaviors began escalating more and more severely. As he became older and increasingly aware of his past trauma and experiences, the effects intensified significantly. He is increasingly dysregulated by feelings of fear, loss of control, transitions, correction, and attachment-related triggers. Our family has experienced frequent aggression, rages, destruction of property, screaming, hitting, throwing objects, unsafe behaviors toward others, and extreme emotional volatility that can last for hours at a time. Basic daily routines such as meals, toileting, bedtime, transitions, school-related expectations, and boundaries often become major triggers connected to his trauma history. We have now reached a point where it is no longer safe for him to remain in our home without a much higher level of support.

We have pursued numerous traditional resources including outpatient therapy, behavioral health services, psychiatric care, trauma-informed parenting interventions, safety planning, respite support, and county-based services. However, because of both his young age and the severity and complexity of his needs, we have repeatedly encountered closed doors. Programs have declined to accept him, providers have stated his needs exceed what they can safely manage at an outpatient level, and we have found ourselves in a heartbreaking gap where there are very few resources available for children this young with this level of trauma and behavioral dysregulation.

As a result, we began independently searching for private resources that could truly meet his needs. We are trying to continue caring well for our child, preserve safety within our home, and remain committed to fighting for our son's healing and future. While attending a conference for families, we were connected with a Christian, trauma-informed, therapeutic residential program that provides highly structured 24/7 care within a relational environment specifically designed for children with significant trauma and behavioral challenges. We believe this may be one of the few environments capable of providing the level of intervention, consistency, relational healing, and structure he urgently needs while he is still young.

For the first time in a long time, we felt hope that there may be a path toward healing, stabilization, and possibly even future reintegration into our family. However, because of the intensive level of care he requires, the cost of placement is extraordinarily high and far beyond what we can financially sustain on our own. The heartbreaking reality is that without access to this level of specialized care, we may ultimately lose the possibility of reunification and be forced to pursue a more permanent alternative placement for him simply because we cannot safely meet his needs without significant intervention and support.

This season has been emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially overwhelming for our family. Yet despite the uncertainty, we continue holding onto hope that with intensive intervention and long-term support - healing and possible reunification may still be possible for our son and our family.

**If you'd like to support this family, please contact us at findsalvo@gmail.com

Mother's Day 2026

Sun, 10 May 2026 13:34:34 GMT

Do you want to know something about me? Something I’ve hidden so well for so long? I dread this day, Every. Single. Year.

YES. I dread Mother’s Day.

For me, it is a day full of unbearable grief, loss, sadness, and feelings of paralyzing hopelessness.

My heart breaks at the brokenness of adoption that made me a mom to begin with. The loss…the primal wound, the guilt, sadness, and shame of abandonment. At its core, adoption begins with immense tragedy, trauma, and loss which is oftentimes overlooked. Many people see adoption solely through the lens of beauty, joy, and redemption. But redemption by definition is to be rescued from evil or sin. Last time I checked, no one needs to be rescued from beauty or joy…

I never thought I’d be the nurturing enemy to the two kids who made me a mom. The person they hated the most because my love for them left them feeling too vulnerable. I couldn’t have possibly fathomed six years ago that our marriage would nearly be destroyed by their fearful manipulation and false allegations. But here we are. And it breaks my heart.

I never imagined that I’d have to live with such grief around infertility and miscarriages.That I’d have to navigate my own feelings of failure and disappointment, and wishing that I didn’t have to suppress my tears around letting my family down, just so I can get out of bed in the morning.

I have always longed to be a Mother. To teach, to learn, to grow together and invest in my OWN family. I’ve been given the gift of investing in so many other kiddos and families as a nanny, and that has been one of my life’s greatest blessings. But I never once expected that I’d be robbed of that opportunity in my own family.

I know many of us Moms carry so many different reasons for why today is hard. We each have our stories, our losses, our deep grief. We wrestle with our own thoughts and feelings of inadequacy and shortcomings.

But today, instead of wishing you a “Happy” Mother’s Day, I just want you to know that it’s okay to not always feel happy. I see you and I’m here for all the UNHAPPY pieces, too.

I wrote this back in 2024 for Mother's Day. And while much of it still rings true today, I want to acknowledge what is different this year.

This year, 2026, the paralyzing hopelessness is less paralyzing. It's more like an unwelcome visitor every once in a while. I can dismiss it more quickly. Move through it with more confidence. And look ahead when all I seemed to ever do for the last 16 years was look behind me. I never thought this would be possible. Even last year. I thought I would be stuck, left to grieve for the rest of my life. And yes, there is still grief. But it's not all that there is.

Today, I can see a clear path ahead, and a gracious, faithful God when I look back. I can see His hand all along, moment by moment, step by step, making a way in the wilderness. Every tear. Every time I curled into a ball because it was all I could do. Every question, every fear, and every "why" feel like they have meaning and purpose, now.

It has never been more clear to me... that purpose is Salvo.

So I just want to reiterate, that whatever feelings Mother's Day 2026 brings up for you, know that those feelings are real and valid. And they are also not the end of your story . They are part of the bigger picture and a greater plan, however dark it may feel in the middle of the storm.

We have a God that uses ALL THINGS for His glory. There is purpose in our pain. And until He reveals that purpose, Salvo will be in the trenches, fighting alongside you.

Mother's Day 2026

From the Trenches: Honest Accounts from RAD Warrior Families

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:58:42 GMT

"This has been one of the most devastating and difficult journeys of our life."

Before we adopted, I had heard one or two horror stories about (what I now know as) RAD and how it manifests in families. We chalked it up to families not doing enough. Not understanding trauma. Not learning a language (like I did). Not cocooning. Not advocating. You name it, I thought I was going to do it better. I even wrote a book about how to do it because I was determined that I was going to fix everything. That I was enough. That love was enough.

Until it wasn't.

This is the ongoing story of one of our Salvo families. This is who we fight for.

After struggling with infertility for about 5 years, my husband and I felt God calling us to foster/adopt. After a lot of prayer and research, we felt he was really calling us to foster in a local county. Our second placement was a sassy, energetic almost 3 year old child who had witnessed and experienced every trauma you could think of. We were brand new foster parents and clueless as to what the future would hold. For the first few years, we kept saying "she has toddler behaviors, but they are a little extreme." Then we noticed the behaviors worsening as she started school and as she continued to get older. If she was told no or did not like what her situation was at home, she would hit, kick, spit, bite, scream and rage for upwards of an hour and forty-five minutes. We got her into therapy at the age of three and psychiatry at the age of 5. We also started our own research and enrolled her into equine therapy at the age of 4. We were told by the specialists that if we got her into attachment therapy at 3 years old, that she would be "fine." We participated in two and a half years of therapy, tried a number of modalities but behaviors worsened. She would hide under tables, run around the treatment room and hiss like an animal.

At school, she was reported throwing chairs, touching peers inappropriately, raging at teachers, hitting and spitting on teachers and much more.

In 2020, we finalized her adoption. All of the specialists said that this permanency would help her settle in and be part of the family. They couldn't have been more wrong.

At the age of 9, she told her therapist that she poisoned me (her adoptive mother) by keeping her evening pills and dropping them in my drink. A few months after this she threatened to kill me (her adoptive mother) and her younger sister. The next day in school she calmly sat and told the school her detailed plan to kill me which included knives that we have in our home. She said she wanted me to suffer. The school called stating they were concerned for our safety and said she needed to go to the ER immediately. Children's ER essentially mocked us, stating that she was "only 9 years old" and that a 9 year old really cannot hurt adults. She stayed there for 36 hours while we "secured our home with indoor security cameras, fingerprint and combination locks.

She is now 11, and has similar behaviors. Rages almost daily at home and has a number of issues at school. We not only feel like prisoners in our own home, but do not have felt safety in our own home either. This has been one of the most devastating and difficult journeys of our life.

The Wilderness Years: A Biblical Framework for Understanding Out-of-Home Placement

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:05:34 GMT

A Reference for Churches, Pastors, & Congregations

The Analogy

Moses did not lead the Israelites into the wilderness because he had given up on them. He led them through the wilderness because it was the only path to the Promised Land.

God Himself — the perfect Father, with infinite love and infinite patience — determined that forty years in the desert was what His people needed. Not as punishment. Not as abandonment. But as the only possible road toward healing, wholeness, and the life He had always intended for them.

Consider what Moses endured. He loved people who screamed at him, blamed him, and wished they had never been rescued. People who, despite everything he sacrificed, sometimes ran toward the very things that were destroying them. People whose trauma from slavery had shaped their minds and hearts in ways that made ordinary life — even freedom — feel unbearable.

Moses did not get to have a peaceful home. He could not simply love them into wholeness by keeping them close.

And still, he did not give up. He kept showing up at the tent of meeting. He kept interceding. He kept his face turned toward the promise, even when the people could not.

What Is Reactive Attachment Disorder?

When an adoptive family is desperately seeking help, the last thing they need is judgement. Often times families are faced with the devastating decision to place their child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) in a residential facility or out-of-home placement. It's important that the church realizes something: they are not washing their hands of that child. They are entering their own wilderness.

RAD is not ordinary defiance or difficult behavior. It is a profound wound to the brain's ability to attach, trust, and receive love — most often caused by early trauma, neglect, or abuse before the child ever arrived in this family's arms. These children have often learned, at the deepest neurological level, that caregivers are dangerous. And so they fight the very people trying to save them — sometimes violently, sometimes in ways that put siblings, parents, and themselves at genuine risk of harm.

Adoptive parents have often spent years trying every therapy, every intervention, every sleepless strategy. They have loved a child who could not yet receive that love. They have protected other children in the home who were also being harmed. They have watched their marriages strain and their own mental health fracture.

Out-of-home placement is not giving up. It is the recognition that this child needs a therapeutic wilderness — a structured, intensive environment specifically designed to help them begin to heal in ways the home cannot currently provide. It is keeping everyone safe while the long work continues. It is a grief-soaked act of hope.

Like Moses, these parents are not abandoning their child in the desert. They are walking alongside the desert — staying connected, advocating fiercely, grieving deeply, and keeping their eyes on a Promised Land they still believe their child can reach.

What the Church Is Called to Do

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they needed water, manna, and the presence of people who would not leave them.

Adoptive families in this season need the same.

What families do NOT need to hear:

"Have you tried loving them more?" (Moses tried. Love alone could not undo forty years of slave mentality overnight.)
"I could never send my child away." (You have not walked their road. Comparison is a stone, not a hand.)
"What does this say about your home environment?" (The wound predates the family. The family is not the cause — they are the ones who showed up to help carry it.)

What families desperately need:

Presence. W ithout judgment. Show up. Sit with the grief. You don't need answers.

Practical help. Respite. Practical help at home. Meals, errands, childcare for other children in the home. The parents are still parenting — often in crisis.

Financial support. And this one matters more than most people realize. Residential treatment facilities for RAD and complex trauma can cost $8,000–$15,000 per month or more. Many insurance plans cover little to none of it. Therapeutic foster care, trauma-specific therapy, and psychiatric care all carry enormous price tags. Families are frequently bankrupted by trying to save their child. Some lose their homes. Many take out second mortgages or drain retirement accounts. The church has always been called to carry one another's burdens — and for adoptive families in crisis, this burden is staggering and largely invisible.

Practical ways churches can help financially:

Financially partner with Salvo through our 100x100 Movement so we can support the needs of families, together.
Organize a congregation-wide giving initiative or love offering for a specific family.
Host a RAD Training through Salvo so others in the congregation can begin to understand the disorder.
Offer caregivers within the church the opportunity to train with Salvo as a respite provider, equipped to support families living with RAD.

Affirming language. Language that honors their love. Say: "You are fighting for your child." "What you're doing takes tremendous courage." "We are so proud of you."

Long-term faithfulness. This is not a short season. Out-of-home placement can last years. Walk with them for the whole wilderness — not just the first month.

A Closing Word

The story of Moses does not end in the desert. It ends with a people who, through that hard passage, were finally ready to receive what had always been prepared for them.

Adoptive families making this impossible decision are holding onto that same hope. Their child's story is not over. The wilderness is not the destination.

Be the community that walks with them until they reach the other side.

"Rinnah"

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:44:02 GMT

Hebrew word: rinnah (רִנָּה)

My middle name is Joy. I have “Choose Joy” tattooed on my forearm to remind me that it’s a daily choice, not a feeling. I just made a sign for my newly painted kitchen that reads “Joy comes in the morning” from Psalm 30. Joy is an ongoing theme in my life. It’s presence and it’s absence. Maybe because it’s my middle name or maybe that has nothing to do with it…I don’t know. Either way, I decided to look at the original Hebrew word last week and what I discovered was profound and worth sharing.

Hebrew word: rinnah (רִנָּה).

It means joy — but not the quiet kind. It's a cry. A shout. The kind of sound that's been building for a long time before it finally gets out.

Some scholars trace it to a Semitic root describing the twang of a bowstring the moment an arrow is released. Which makes sense, when you think about it. That sound only exists because of everything that came before it. The pulling back. The holding.

Psalm 30:5 puts it this way: weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

And a lot of families we walk alongside know that night well. We certainly do.

The silence of reaching out and not being heard — or worse, being accused when you were only ever trying to keep everyone safe. The exhaustion of carrying something heavy while life keeps moving around you. The particular loneliness of a struggle no one can quite see. The waiting and the fear — the kind that settles into your bones, that makes you afraid to speak up at all — can feel like it has no end.

But morning comes.

Not always on our timeline. Not always the way we expected. But it comes — and when it does, it doesn't always arrive softly. Sometimes joy breaks through. Sometimes it sounds like a shout after a long silence. A breath finally let go. A weight finally shared.

That's rinnah. Not just happiness — relief. The exhale after the tension. The moment your voice isn't the only one in the room. When you finally see the way forward.

Our post adoption journey is ongoing, but we have had several rinnah moments along the way. Moments when morning came and we could finally exhale. When safety was finally an option. When healing seemed possible.

We witnessed a plethora of rinnah moments during a conference hosted by RAD Advocates. It was undeniable as we sat in the room with 130 other families at NavRAD 2026. We could see it. Hear it. Feel it. Everyone could. That is powerful.

And that's what Salvo is here for. To sit with families in the night seasons. To help them feel seen and heard. To financially connect them with support so that morning can come for them, too.

Because weeping may last through the night.

But joy — real, loud, long-overdue joy — comes in the morning.

Salvo. Rinnah.

Every family deserves to find it.

Churches: A Call to Action

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:57:28 GMT

Why Your Church is Needed in This Mission

Salvo was born out of crisis. Out of late-night phone calls with strangers who were desperate for help, out of families who had nowhere else to turn, and out of the brutal reality that once the adoption is finalized, many families are left to navigate trauma and mental-health crises completely alone.

I’m Bri Morris, and my own family is one of them.

When my husband Drew and I adopted two siblings from Haiti, we believed we were prepared. We believed we were answering God’s call. What we didn’t know was the depth of trauma our children had endured – abuse, exploitation, violence, and neglect masked under the promise of a “Christian” orphanage. We brought them home believing safety and love would begin the healing process. Instead, we walked into a war we didn’t even know existed.

Reactive Attachment Disorder, developmental trauma, sexualized behaviors, threats of legal consequences, fear, isolation, judgment from those who were supposed to help – this became our daily reality. And through it all, we discovered an even harder truth:

Support after adoption is almost nonexistent.

When the church says, “We must adopt,” they’re right. But there is a second command that has been missing:

“We must stand with those who DO.”

Because what happens when love is not enough?

What happens when trauma rewires a child’s brain to fear connection?
When specialized treatment isn’t covered by insurance or doesn’t exist locally?
When the marriage is falling apart under the weight?
When siblings begin to struggle too?
When the family can no longer be safely under one roof?
Who do they turn to?

The answer should never be “no one.”

Yet for most families… it is.

Our Mission Statement

Salvo was created to bring awareness to the struggles faced by adoptive families once the child(ren) is/are in the home, to address the financial burden of post-adoptive services on adoptive families, and to provide adoptive families with fundraising opportunities and access to financial assistance.

Why Salvo Exists

Salvo was formed to be a second line of defense – a lifeline – for families living in the reality of severe post-adoption challenges. We walk into the trenches with them, helping them secure:

Specialized therapists trained in RAD and developmental trauma
Support for parents and siblings coping with secondary trauma
IEP and school advocacy
Safety planning and crisis intervention
Out-of-home therapeutic placements when needed
Funding to make all of the above possible

Most of these services are not covered by insurance, leaving families to choose between safety and financial ruin. Salvo steps in so they don’t have to make that choice.

Why We Are Asking YOU to Partner With Us

Churches and businesses already carry the heart to serve vulnerable children. Many have supported adoption for years – financially, emotionally, and prayerfully. But there is a massive gap that only partners like you can help fill:

Post-adoption support.

Adoption doesn’t end when a child comes home.
In fact, for many families, that is when the real battle begins.

Your partnership with Salvo makes it possible to:

1. Keep families together and safe

Trauma-informed therapists, residential treatment, and crisis support save lives and help families remain intact.

2. Provide resources families cannot access alone

Your funding bridges the gap between what families need and what is financially out of reach.

3. Support marriages and strengthen the family unit

When parents have support, guidance, and relief, they can continue loving their child through unimaginable challenges.

4. Help the Church fulfill its full calling

Not just to encourage adoption, but to sustain adoptive families long after the celebration ends.

What Partnership Looks Like

Your church or business can partner with Salvo in several ways:

• Monthly Financial Partnership

Become part of the foundation that allows families to receive immediate, life-saving support. Join our 100x100 movement . 100 churches. $100 a month.

• Sponsoring a Family

Directly fund therapy, respite care, evaluations, or residential treatment for a family in crisis.

• Hosting Awareness & Education Events

Help dismantle misconceptions about adoption, trauma, and mental health. Learn about RAD through training programs and equip caregivers in the church with the necessary skills to provide RAD-specific respite for families.

• Providing Practical Support

Meal trains, childcare, repairs, transportation—real needs that make real impact.

• Corporate Matching & Community Giving

Multiply generosity by involving staff, customers, or members.

Our Ask

We are boldly asking you to join us.

Not symbolically.
Not someday.

But now - because families are breaking under the weight of trauma today.

Salvo exists because the question we kept asking over and over was:

“THEN WHAT?”

Who supports the families who answer the call to adopt?
Who walks with them when trauma takes over?
Who helps them find healing, hope, and safety?

With your partnership, the answer can finally be:

“We do.”

We are inviting you to take action.
To stand in the gap.
To fight for families who are fighting for their children.
To be the church. To be the community. To be the support they desperately need.

Will you join us in this mission?

What is Salvo

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:08:46 GMT

SALVA'TION, n. L. salvo , to save.

1. The act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great calamity. ( KJV Dictionary)

The word “Salvo” is associated with several different, and seemingly disconnected, ideas. Some would say a military salute or rapid succession of firearms. Others might associate salvo with the combined shouts or cheers of a multitude, expressing honor, esteem, admiration, or applause. And others, still, may say it’s rooted in the Biblical term for salvation; the act of saving. As we began to unpack each of these individual definitions, an overall theme became clear: Salvo is about taking action. It is acknowledging the need for post-adoptive care (we see you). It is coming alongside families in their time of need, rallying to support them, and lifting them up (we’re in the fight with you). And Salvo is about preserving families and providing relief when moving forward seems out of reach (we’ve got you).

You might say that Salvo is a secondary line of defense for families in their post-adoptive life. Every family goes through seasons, some good, some difficult. And adoptive families are no different. Oftentimes, adoptive families need additional support, resources, and assistance in finding these services, as well as the financial means to pay for their child’s or family’s specific needs. Many specialists who understand trauma, adoption, abuse, neglect, etc, are not covered by insurance, forcing many families to cherry pick who in their family gets the services and support they need, for how long, and at what cost to the others that also need care and support. And that’s where Salvo comes in.

Purpose Statement: Salvo was created to raise funds to assist adoptive families in meeting the financial burdens of post-adoptive services, including out-of-home treatment, for adopted children struggling with adjustment and behavioral issues in their new adoptive home.

Sometimes, our adopted kiddos need a specialized therapist who understands RAD in order for the entire family to find safety and for healing to begin. Or maybe your adopted kiddo is covered, but mom and dad could really use some couple’s therapy after the years of pouring every ounce of themselves into their family’s healing journey. Perhaps your biological kiddo is struggling with secondary trauma and needs some extra support from a specialized therapist who understands both complex trauma and adoption. It could be IEP support for school services or creating a safety plan with RAD Advocates. There’s also the last (but often necessary) resort of residential and therapeutic boarding facilities which can be an unbearable financial burden for many families. Whatever your family’s specific needs are, we want to partner with you! Salvo is here to connect you with qualified resources and to provide a space for you to advocate, share, and fundraise for your family’s unique healing journey.

We are here to fight alongside you as you navigate the unknown and unexpected. Post-adoptive life can be full of curveballs and challenges you never imagined you might face. But we are here to climb in the trenches with you and remind you that there is hope. We’ve got your back and you’re not alone!