From the Trenches: Honest Accounts from RAD Warrior Families

"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

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Mother's Day 2026

By Bri Morris • May 10, 2026

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.

From the Trenches: Honest Accounts from RAD Warrior Families

Mother's Day 2026

From the Trenches: Honest Accounts from RAD Warrior Families

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

"Rinnah"

Churches: A Call to Action

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Supporting post-adoptive families with resources, crisis support, and stabilization services.

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Eastlake, Colorado