Child Development, Transition, and Mental Health
Helping your family transition, promote attachment and decrease mental health risks
The Development, Transition and Mental Health Clinic offers four types of services:
- Transition visit for newly adopted children - within two months of the initial medical visit to the Adoption Clinic; we focus on building a healthy parent-child relationship
- Developmental assessment - one year post adoption, to address whether your child requires extra help in order to reach her full potential
- Special concerns visit - schedule any time, to address your questions about transition issues, behavioral or emotional concerns
- Intervention program - for children with multiple developmental and mental health needs
We can help to determine which of these services might be right for your family. Email us at iac@umn.edu for assistance.
An Integrated, Multidisciplinary Approach
Our Program
Our approach is to treat the whole child. This means we see your child's growth in terms of their physical, social emotional and cognitive development. That's why our mental health program is integrated with the physical clinic appointment. Our emphasis is to recognize and identify problems as early as possible in the child's life, so we can treat them right away before they become bigger and more serious.
The Parent - Child Relationship
Our program targets the parent-child relationship as a means toward healing the child's previous trauma and allowing them to develop to their highest potential.
Many Benefits
Children who experienced early-life adverse environments, such as orphanage care, multiple transitions, caregiver loss, war-time trauma, violence, food insecurity or other-- are at risk for long term neurodevelopmental and mental health issues. We know that the relationship between a child and parent serve as protective factors for the rest of the child's life, minimizing the risk or severity of future development and mental health issues.