GRAY, Deborah D. 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born November 28, 1951, in PA; daughter of Gerald (a farmer) and Patricia (a registered nurse) Gray; married, 1982; children: three. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Syracuse University, M.A. (social work), 1981, M.P.A., 1981. Politics: Independent. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, reading in all areas of human development, playing with dog.

ADDRESSES:

Office—8011 118th Ave. NE, Kirkland, WA 98033; fax: 425-483-2957. E-mail—DeborahDGray@aol.com.

CAREER:

Social Worker. North Slope Borough School District, Alaska, counselor, 1975-76; Regional Perinatal Center, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY, social worker, 1979-81; Catholic Community Services, Mt. Vernon, WA, therapist, 1982-84; New Hope Child and Family Services, Seattle, WA, casework supervisor, 1988-93; private practice as a clinical social worker, Kirkland, WA, 1993—. Antioch University's foster care and adoption therapy post-graduate certificate program, core faculty; Portland State University's foster care and adoption therapy postgraduate certificate program, faculty.

MEMBER:

National Association of Social Workers, Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (advisory board member).

WRITINGS:

Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents, Perspectives Press (Indianapolis, IN), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Adoptive Families of America and various professional and parent newsletters.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A book on trauma, neglect, and attachment.

SIDELIGHTS:

Deborah D. Gray had nearly twenty years of experience as a clinical social worker in the fields of children's therapy, child placement, and foster and adoption counseling when she wrote Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents.

Gray specializes in the areas of attachment, grief, and trauma and works primarily with children who have been adopted through the foster care system or international orphanages. She teaches information and techniques that can help when abuse, deprivation, or long periods spent in foster care make attachment formation with adoptive parents difficult. In her private practice, parents are often involved in the therapy sessions, providing comfort and safety and working to meet the needs of the children while dealing with attachment-related problems.

In her book, Gray documents the healthy attachment stages by age and notes how grief, cultural change, and trauma can interfere with the normal attachment process. She advises parents to learn more about their child's background and to provide a structured, nurturing environment. Gray addresses the issue of delayed emotional development and how to spot such conditions as fetal alcohol syndrome, posttraumatic stress disorder, autism, learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder. She also discusses interracial and cross-cultural adoptions and provides a list of resources, including books, journal articles, organizations, and Web sites, where parents can find help. A Publishers Weekly contributor felt that "while the book is densely written, it will nevertheless be invaluable for adoptive parents." Library Journal's Alice Hershiser wrote that "this book appears to be the only one that so thoroughly summarizes attachment." She felt Attaching in Adoption to be "of considerable value."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, May 15, 2002, Alice Hershiser, review of Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents, p. 120.

Publishers Weekly, April 15, 2002, review of Attaching in Adoption, p. 58.