Healing Emotional Wounds

Board certified in both pediatrics and public health/preventive medicine, Nancy M. Welch has been a public health director in Virginia since 1976. She also holds master’s degrees in health administration and business administration. Her most valuable preparation, though, for the parenting challenges of her two adopted children is having grown up as the second eldest of five children to parents who provided unending support, encouragement, and belief in the ability of each child to overcome any obstacle to achieve their aspirations. Nancy is an accomplished community speaker and public health spokesperson, having appeared in all media formats on topics ranging from community health assessments and public health response to local crises, health education, and medical school graduate classes. She has received numerous recognitions, including Distinguished Lynchburg College Alumni and YWCA Distinguished Woman.

Russia banned the United States from adopting from their country, and subsequently a flurry of media stories brought attention to the prevalence of severe behavioral and emotional disorders in children adopted from Eastern European orphanages. Schoolchildren and moviegoers are shot and killed in the United States by persons described as mentally ill since childhood, and we as a nation question our recognition and treatment of emotionally disturbed children. Healing Emotional Wounds-A Story of Overcoming the Long Hard Road to Recovery from Abuse and Abandonment brings the reader face-to-face with the challenges of healing the wounds of abuse, neglect, and abandonment of two six-year-olds adopted from Ukraine. It is often not a very pretty sight, but literally through blood, sweat, and tears the family emerges as a healthy, bonded unit. This story affirms the hope of healing through commitment, hard work, extensive family and friend support, a "never quit" attitude, and an unyielding resilience and focus. The intent of this book is to inspire endurance, professional and community support, intervention, and hope. The intent is to save these children.

ProloguePart I AdoptionPart II  A Rough BeginningPart III Home Away From HomePart IV New BeginningEpilogue