What Happened in That Room: A NavRAD Recap

The NavRAD experience is centered on the RAD Advocates workbook "Your Reactive Attachment Disorder Parenting Roadmap" (also available via membership), guiding parents from wherever they are at the moment through creating a plan to move the family forward.

Updated in May of 2026

As they stood before the room full of parents at NavRAD26 in North Kansas City, RAD Advocates CEO Amy VanTine and COO Heather Houze saw a familiar look. Many of the attendees — those parenting children from hard places — had eyes full of sadness and urgency. They scanned the room for signs of hope. It was an expression of the pain Amy and Heather once felt themselves while raising children with developmental trauma, currently diagnosed as reactive attachment disorder (RAD).

RAD Advocates walks beside parents navigating reactive attachment disorder. Become a member.

Amy and Heather's response was different from the advice most of these parents had heard before. They didn't dismiss their reality. They didn't tell them that time and love would fix their child's disorder. They told them the unsugared truth — that the road ahead wouldn't be easy, not at all. But there is a path forward. It may not look like the path these parents once envisioned, but paths unique to their stories do exist.

And then Amy said something that set the tone for the entire weekend: "It's okay if you feel anxious, scared, nervous. Anything goes at NavRAD. Be real, be what you need to feel." 

It was, for many in the room, the first exhale of the weekend.

NavRAD is about so many things, including connection. Many parents feel completely alone in the developmental trauma parenting journey. But they leave with a sense of community and a path forward.

NavRAD26 was held April 24-26 in North Kansas City, Missouri — the fifth gathering of its kind. Parents traveled from across the country — some for the first time, some returning — to connect, learn, and leave with a plan. They came exhausted. Many came skeptical. But they came, because something told them this might be different.

And it was.

What follows is just a small glimpse of what was shared over three days. The conversations between sessions, the new friendships and support made, the tears at the coffee station, the quiet moments of recognition when a stranger across the table says exactly what you've been living — those can't be captured in a blog post. But we hope this gives you something to hold onto — whether you were there or you couldn't make it and need a reminder that you are not alone in this.

From Amy VanTine and Heather Houze — RAD Advocates

At NavRAD26, Amy and Heather hosted and guided every moment — from the opening welcome to the workbook sessions to the small group rotations on Sunday. Throughout the weekend, the broader RAD Advocates team was also present and available, moving through the room and connecting with families in the quieter moments between sessions.

Their role is not simply to present. It is to guide, to walk beside, and to be honest in a way that most people in a RAD parent's life simply don't understand. Both parented children with the disorder themselves. That is not coincidental — it is the foundation of everything they do.

RAD Advocates didn't tell the parents at NavRAD that time and love would fix their child's disorder. They told them the unsugared truth — that the road ahead wouldn't be easy, not at all. But there is a path forward.

Amy was direct about the realities RAD families face. She reminded parents that it is their human right to have felt safety in their own home — a statement that should be obvious, and yet for many in that room, had never been said to them before. She was candid about the system: "The system does not recognize families like ours, and it typically creates more trauma for the entire family. I recommend working with an advocate if possible before getting involved with child welfare. You need a strategy to protect yourselves."

She drew an important distinction that too many families learn too late — that attachment and RAD are not the same thing, and that finding the right support requires more than a trauma-informed therapist. "You need a therapist that isn't just trauma-informed, but RAD-informed."

After countless conversations over the phone and on Zoom, RAD Advocates staff have the chance to hug and connect with their members in person at NavRAD.

And on respite — something RAD families desperately need and rarely have access to — she was clear: "We cannot continue to do hard things if we don't have respite, if we don't have a break." There are not enough providers available. But getting creative in finding solutions within a system that offers so little is, in many ways, what RAD Advocates is all about.

Heather carried that same honesty into her words about the siblings — the children who often absorb the most while being seen the least. "You can't make up for lost time," she told parents, "but you can change the trajectory moving forward." On what success was even supposed to look like anymore, she answered directly: "The goal is a healthy, safe family. Achieving that is different for everyone. There is no perfect path, no perfect plan. Every family's success looks different." That is what RAD Advoctes helps families find — their own version of success but first and foremost, safety.

From Forrest Lien, LCSW — Lifespan Trauma Consulting | Keynote Speaker

Forrest Lien has worked with children with reactive attachment disorder and their families for more than 40 years. He is one of the rarest clinicians in his field — someone who truly understands the difference between trauma, attachment issues, and moderate to severe reactive attachment disorder. For many parents in the room, sitting across from a clinician who actually gets it was a first.

His keynote, "Why Am I Feeling Crazy?: The Life of RAD Parenting," gave words to what so many had lived but couldn't explain. He spoke about the nurturing enemy dynamic — the painful and counterintuitive reality that the more a parent tries to connect with a child with RAD, the further that child will push them away. He explained that the child doesn't remember their trauma, but their brain does — and why that understanding is so important in parenting them.

Many parents find experts who understand them for the first time at NavRAD and have the opportunity to chat with them. All presenters are carefully vetted through RAD Advocates as they too raised children with reactive attachment disorder.

And he said something that many in the room had quietly wondered but never heard a clinician say out loud: 'Sometimes the best gift you can give your child is to have them not live in your home. You can love them from a distance.' It is a heartbreaking reality of the disorder — that for some children, the depth of their trauma means they may never be able to safely receive a parent's care. For the families living that reality, having a clinician finally say it out loud was its own kind of relief.

For parents who had spent years being told to try harder, love more, and never give up — hearing a respected clinician validate what they already knew in their bones was nothing short of transformative.

Forrest also walked attendees through the RADq — a parent-reported inventory to help gauge the severity of their child's reactive attachment disorder — and explained the results in a group setting. Parents left with a clearer picture of where their child falls on the spectrum and what that means for the path ahead.

From Monica Badgley — RAD Sibs | Glass Children: The Impact of Reactive Attachment Disorder on Siblings

There is a term for the siblings of children with RAD — glass children. They are so transparent, so easy to see through, that the adults around them often look right past them. Monica Badgley of RAD Sibs knows this from the inside out. Years into parenting her own children with RAD, she realized she had been a glass child herself growing up. That realization became her mission.

"'I didn't stay quiet because I was okay.' — The RAD Sibs panel at NavRAD26 gave voice to the siblings who are too often invisible in the RAD family story."

At NavRAD26, Monica presented alongside a panel of young adults who grew up with a sibling with reactive attachment disorder. One of them was Sage, 21 — a young woman who sat in front of a room full of RAD parents and said what their other children may never have found the words to say.

Amy was direct about the realities RAD families face. She reminded parents that it is their human right to have felt safety in their own home — a statement that should be obvious, and yet for many in that room, had never been said to them before.

"Growing up, I felt invisible. I stayed quiet because I didn't want to further burden my parents. I didn't stay quiet because I was okay."

Her advice to the parents in front of her was generous in its simplicity: "Show them that you're proud of them, that you love them. Don't just tell them. Show up. Be present for them."

From Stacey Hansen — The Fortified Mindset | A Journey in Parenting Reactive Attachment Disorder

Stacey Hansen did not come to NavRAD26 to present a polished story with a tidy ending. She came to tell the truth. And the truth was hard.

Stacey's resilience — her deep, almost stubborn capacity to endure — kept her going long after she should have made a change. She knows now that it was to the detriment of her entire family. She shared that painful realization not to condemn herself, but to free someone else from making the same mistake.

"There's a piece of us that wants to believe our children are getting better," she said. But for many families, the longer they wait, the deeper the damage runs — not just for the child, but for everyone living under the same roof. That reality alone drew a visible response from the room — the pained eyes that said yes, we are all drowning.

She challenged attendees to sit with three questions and to answer them without the filter of shame or guilt — questions she wishes she had asked herself years earlier: If shame and guilt were removed, what would be the obvious next step for the safety and well-being of your family? Am I protecting my identity or am I protecting my family? If love is not enough, what is actually required for safety?

There are no easy answers to those questions. But Stacey's point was that the answers were already there — many parents just hadn't been given permission to see them yet.

From Misty Bickham — RAD Advocates | Team Family: Shifting and Empowering Your Parenting Mindset

Misty Bickham is RAD Advocates' Parent Empowerment Specialist — and the parenting model she teaches is not something she found in a textbook. She built it inside her own home, in the middle of the chaos, when she realized that the only thing she could actually control was herself.

"I couldn't control the escalations in my home, the chaos, or the outside opinions," she said. "I began to focus on what I can control. That included my schedule, the TV and other media I consume, my structure, my regulation, my boundaries and my values."

That shift — from "Team Child with RAD" to "Team Family" — is what her Empowered Parenting model is built on. To learn more, visit the Parent Courses page under Get Support on our website.

From Keri Williams — Raising Devon | Redefining Success as You Raise a Child with Reactive Attachment Disorder

One of the quietest but most powerful shifts a RAD parent can make is in how they define success. Keri Williams — author, advocate, and RAD parent — co-presented with Heather Houze on exactly that.

For parents who came in carrying the weight of everything they hadn't been able to achieve for their child, her words offered something rare: permission to redefine what winning actually looks like. "Conventional parenting success is different from success in parenting a child with moderate to severe RAD," she said. "Peace, safety, and survival equals success when you wear pragmatic RAD lenses."

Two women who have lived it — one who wrote about it, one who built an organization around it — together redefining what success looks like for RAD families. Award-winning author Keri Williams of Raising Devon and Heather Houze, COO of RAD Advocates, at NavRAD26.

If Keri's words resonate with you, her books, including one of her newer ones,"Snark, Sanity, & Survival: Self-Care for Struggling Special Needs Parents — RAD Advocates Special Edition" — are worth picking up. The newer book is a no-nonsense workbook for parents who are running on fumes and tired of advice that doesn't come close to matching their reality. Written by Keri, a mom who has lived it, it's full of practical tools, real-talk support, and the kind of validation that's hard to find anywhere else. The special edition also has tips from RAD Advocates and all profits from the edition go directly to RAD Advocates. Find it on Amazon here.

The NavRAD26 Experience — Beyond the Sessions

NavRAD26 was more than what happened in the main room. It was the morning coffee and connection time — the informal conversations that began before the sessions started and continued long after they ended. It was the trauma-informed yoga on Saturday and Sunday mornings, led by Stacey Hansen, giving parents a rare chance to reconnect with their own bodies. It was the Saturday evening storytelling workshop with Stacey and Justin Carroll of The Fortified Mindset. The guided breathwork experience with Dr. Allison Quadhamer. And for those who attended, a Friday evening at Kauffman Stadium watching the Kansas City Royals — a rare and joyful exhale for parents who rarely get one.

The NavRAD experience is connecting, learning and planning together.

On Sunday, parents gathered in small groups with Amy and Heather to turn everything they had learned into something real — a customized, written plan for their family. They left with their completed Your Reactive Attachment Disorder Parenting Roadmap workbook in hand.

For many, it was the first time they had sat in a room full of people who simply understood. No explanation required. No judgment. Just people who get it.

NavRAD Returns in 2028

NavRAD26 was the fifth gathering. The next won't be until 2028 — but the community, the resources, and RAD Advocates are here in the meantime.

If you couldn't make it to NavRAD26 and are looking for support, consider a RAD Advocates membership. You'll get access to the workbook, an advocate (depending on the level of membership), and a community of parents who understand exactly what you're living. Learn more about membership here.

"The system does not recognize families like ours, and it typically creates more trauma for the entire family," said RAD Advocates CEO Amy VanTine. "Work with an advocate if possible before getting involved with child welfare. You need a strategy to protect yourselves."

And if you're a professional who wants to better understand what these families experience, NavRAD26 keynote speaker Forrest Lien, LCSW of Lifespan Trauma Consulting has created an on-demand clinical course offered through RAD Advocates. Learn more about Forrest Lien's training here.

Together, we will pave the path. Together, we are all stronger RAD advocates.

RAD Advocates guides parents through navigating developmental trauma/reactive attachment disorder. Become a member.