Since 1954
Child psychologist Barbara Rila’s career, focused on issues of adoption, attachment, and trauma, was inspired by her upbringing: her parents fostered 50 children in addition to their own six. A former president of the Dallas Psychological Association and former chair of the Texas Postadoption Advisory Committee, she currently works with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Researchers have called “adverse childhood experiences” the single most powerful factor in health, social and economic well-being, a hidden epidemic more damaging than cancer or heart disease.
