Director, Debra Delulio Jones, M Ed

About the Founder and Director: As an educator and parent of an adopted son, Debra Delulio Jones, offers more than two decades of first-hand experience in training children with special needs, including learning disabilities, mental retardation, autism, development delays, emotional disturbances, Sensory Processing Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education and a Master of Education degree, with a specialty in Language and Learning Disabilities, both from Texas Woman's University. She taught Special Education in Fort Worth ISD and Eagle Mountain/Saginaw ISD.
                             
Her academic training was enhanced and put to the test after adopting a son, Dane, from an orphanage in Romania. He suffered early neglect, abandonment, and malnourishment, along with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and lead toxicity. Although only 11-months-old when he came into their home, by the time he was 11 years old, his severe learning and extreme behavior problems had disrupted the whole family and plunged everyone into despair and hopelessness. 

Debra sought help from many experts, but gained the most insight and practical knowledge from Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross at TCU's Hope Connection Camp for adopted children. As a result of applying these new parenting strategies, Dane reached a level of independence that his parents never dreamed possible. His success story is featured in both the March and May 2011 issues of Fostering Families Today.

In 2007, Debra formed PACT: Parenting Adoptees Can Trust to educate and assist parents who are on a similar journey with troubled children. As Director of PACT, Debra now coaches and supports other parents and professionals in the research-based parenting model she learned from Drs. Purvis and Cross. It is called Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®). She hopes that other families can learn from the "knots on her head" and have a less difficult journey with their traumatized children.

The Jones Family: Alan and Debbie, two Texas school teachers committed to a forever family: Megan Jones, their biological daughter and Dane Jones, their adopted son.
This family for many years felt overwhelmed and ill-equipped to manage the maladaptive and disruptive behavior of their son, Dane, a survivor of abandonment and the horrible conditions in a Romanian orphanage.  Alan and Debbie sought help from experts in the field. They now wish to help others by sharing what they've learned and how they've grown together as a family. According to these parents, "We made a PACT years ago with Dane, a tiny guy with a toothless grin, and we intend to keep it!"