Christopher F. Deeg Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist with over 35 years of experience in general practice and in working with adopted persons, families of adopted persons, people considering or planning on adopting, and birth parents who have previously surrendered a child for adoption. Dr. Deeg has broad training in cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches and completed post-doctoral training in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. He also treats and counsels couples. Dr. Deeg also provides consultation to adoption agencies.

Dr. Deeg is the author of several journal articles on the psychology of the adopted person including the issue of identity formation, as well as the psychoanalytic treatment of the adoptee. He is one of three editors for the Handbook on the Clinical Treatment of Adopted Adolescents and Young Adults which has recently been published by Routledge.

Dr Marilyn R Sanders is a board-certified pediatrician and neonatologist caring for critically ill babies, infants, and their families and a Professor of Pediatrics at the UCONN School of Medicine. She also provides neurodevelopmental follow-up for babies and infants. Her scholarly interest is providing trauma-informed care to hospitalized newborns, infants, young children, and their families. Her focus is the impact of the autonomic nervous system’s sense of safety, danger, or life threat on our emotions and behavior. She lectures throughout the United States and Europe. Dr Sanders has authored papers and book chapters on trauma-informed care in the hospital setting. Dr Sanders’ book with her co-author, Dr George Thompson, The Polyvagal Theory and the Developing Child: Strengthening Systems of Care for Kids, Families, and Communities was released 11/16/21 by WW Norton. The book discusses implications of the Polyvagal Theory, for the well-being and development of infants, children, adolescents and their families.

Linda Mayers, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and has worked for most of her career with adoptive families and adopted people of all ages. She is an adjunct associate professor at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York; Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and Editorial Reader, International Forum of Psychoanalysis . An ongoing interest is in the developmental complexities of adopted individuals throughout the life span.