Events | RAD Advocates

Plan ahead to attend the next plan-building and connection-making guided experience for those raising kids with reactive attachment disorder.

There's something for everyone along the journey. Something for you. Find your people. Leave with a roadmap designed just for your family.

Sign-up for email to be the first to hear more about our April 2024 plans.

We travel to a new state every other year (we recently moved from an annual to a biennial experience to make room for other exciting projects!). This April, we'll be in Texas. Further details coming soon. Be the first to learn more via our e-mail list.

Presented by Heather and Amy of RAD Advocates, Your NavRAD Guides

The NavRAD Experience was created by parents, for parents. After RAD Advocates Founder Amy VanTine went to conferences about trauma and attachment, she felt more lonely and isolated. No one in those rooms understood the reality of raising kids with reactive attachment disorder. And the inspiration for NavRAD was born.

Read the Story.

At NavRAD, you'll experience:

Connection with other RAD parents in a safe and accepting space

Maybe you're just learning about the term reactive attachment disorder. Or maybe you've desperately tried to teach professionals about it for years. Either way, you'll find your people at NavRAD. We get better every year at seating parents with others who are in similar places along the journey. Chat, laugh, or cry. Exhange numbers. Whatever feels right to you. However you do it, you'll be accepted and surrounded by people who get it.

Sincere understanding from experts in reactive attachment disorder

Really. We know many of you have been disappointed by professionals who don't truly understand the disorder. As RAD parents ourselves, we vet and select people we trust to give you guidance. No sponsors or tables full of swag in the halls. Just people who really do understand what you're going through and want to help.

Guidance to create a personal plan forward for your family

Seating is limited this year so we can give more focused guidance to create a plan forward through the challenges of RAD. You'll get expert guidance and tools to help, from a RAD questionnaire with expert explanation to the "Your Reactive Attachment Disorder Parenting Roadmap" workbook. Leave with a path specific to your family.

I loved being able to meet and talk with other RAD parents, getting support from others the lack of judgment in the room. I felt I could have walked up to anyone in that room and they would not have asked me about my daughter in a way that would have invalidated my experience. It felt safe to talk about our experience for the first time in my life.

It was one of the most validating experiences I've had thus far. Foster and adoptive care is hard enough, but RAD is its own ball game. It was nice just being able to sit in the presence of others, knowing they carry similar burdens and pain that I do. I didn't need to explain myself or feel judged or shamed, I was just understood. It gave me more peace and confidence in which direction to go. Knowing whatever decisions we make, regardless of how it seems to others, our decision will be what is best for our kid and the rest of our family. It validated that I do love this kid, but feeling like a crazy confused psycho is normal because of the constant rejection and feelings of failure. "

Connecting with other families who “get it” was a great feeling. We felt validated and not alone in all we are experiencing and dealing with.
Being given the chance to think about a plan, and gaining different ideas and resources to implement the plan upon our return home was amazing!