WASHINGTON DC: Talking with Carol Boyd - Research that can impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year

In 1989 we went to Kona Hawaii for a three month course at the University of the Nations (UofN) ... but stayed for nine years . We volunteered as staff and became school leaders with the College of Communication, spending a couple of years in Texas and travelled to many nations during that time. David and Carol Boyd were our leaders. David was the Chancellor of the university in Kona and Carol was the International Dean of the College of Education. They became both mentors and very good friends. Recently both of them laid aside their roles in the university and moved to Washingon DC and started a completely new season in their lives. When I realised the way I was getting from VIrginia Beach to Dublin was through DC, I organised an overnight stopover just to see them and share old times even if for only a short while. I never intended to do podcasts while there, however after listening to them share what they were doing, I realised each of them had an amazing story to tell. They have challenged my thinking deeply and I believe these podcasts, recorded in their home, will do the same for others. Here are normal people doing extraordinary things and making a difference.

The Boyds surprised us some years ago when their children had grown they started the cycle again and adopted an abandoned little girl from China. She was physically handicapped and confined to a wheelchair. We had left Kona when they did this so we never met her face to face, we did however hear stories of her joy and wondeful personality from our friends. I met Fuxia for the first time in Washington and the stories were under rated. She is a vivacious and wonderfully intelligent 11 year old little girl with the charm and confidence of a much older person. She is living proof that Carol's research has life impact.

Some Highlights from Carol's Podcast:

• Carol talks about Children at risk and explains we do not understand where it begins and what the causes are although we know poverty is a major influence.
• We talked about abandoned and neglected children and the hundreds of thousands of children at risk in China and this has become a major focus for the Boyds.
• Carol introduces the concept of intervention and what interventions can be made to change the lives of the children especially with international adoption from China and developing nations. Carol's research is on interventions.
• We discuss the reasons for the abandonment of female babies in China and China is doing something about it.
• Adoption is not enough, there is more to it to help these children. Carol's research is about what builds the emotional stability and resilience in the child which brought her to this major building block called Attachment. This is the bond that takes place beginning before birth in the womb between mother and child.
• We discuss what happens when the child is abandoned abused or neglected and this attachment is not there, how there is a huge break in the child's emotional well being. This is a problem not only in the developing nations but in our western nations as well - mothers emotionally unattached to their children for all sorts of reasons.
• Bolby Robertson and Ainsworth began the work and here is a paper titled "The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth" by Inge Bretherton This is part of an excellent resource on the subject of Attachment including multimedia from State University of New York Stoneybrook
• Institutions are not an effective intervention programme.
• Carol goes into nations and does consultancy work with social services and with NGO's to work how to care for these children the best is that they are adopted into a family - she is getting significant cooperation from Chinese government
• Stumbled onto an exciting learning and teaching project to help develop a resource to educate parents adopting children in China. This is a call for Educational Technologists to help ... it could help thousands of children in China. Please email me if you can help.
• Carol's dream is that the concept and understanding of Attachment become a household word, like "the A factor" in peoples lives so that not only parents of adopted children but everyone understands the consequences of not understanding attachment in the next generation
• We discuss the direct correlation between lack of attachment and socially unacceptable behaviour e.g. dictators and criminals
• Carol is making regular trips to China to do her research and she is pioneering this in China.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss anything we have shared in the podcast or have any comments.

Regards
Allan