1. Welcome & Mission Statement
"A New Path to Healing for Adopted Families"
Brief introduction to The Life Quest Foundation and its mission to provide scholarships and support for families dealing with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD).
Strong, heartfelt opening message to inspire hope and engage visitors.
2. Understanding RAD
"What Is Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and what do the expert say?"
Explanation of RAD, its causes, and its effects on children and families
.Include impactful statistics about adoption and the prevalence of RAD in the U.S.
3. The Challenges of RAD
"The Invisible Battle Families Face"
Highlight the emotional, financial, and relational challenges RAD imposes on families.
Share personal stories or quotes from families dealing with RAD for emotional resonance.
4. Why Boarding School Placement Matters
"Why Distance Can Heal"
Explain how out-of-home placement helps children with RAD find stability and emotional regulation.
Share insights into why this approach works, countering common misconceptions.
5. The Life Quest Solution
"A Scholarship, A Lifeline"
Introduce The Life Quest Foundation's scholarship program.
Detail how these scholarships enable families to access necessary treatment and education for their children without financial ruin.
6. Stories of Impact
"Families Saved, Futures Restored"
Showcase testimonials or success stories from families and children who have benefited from Life Quest scholarships.
Include photos (if permissions allow) and quotes to humanize the foundation’s impact.
7. Meet the Founders
"The Heart Behind the Mission"
Introduce Monte and Rachael Hawkins, their story, and how Life Quest Girls Academy evolved into a sanctuary for families in crisis.
Share their vision for the future of the foundation.
8. The Need for Support
"Why Your Help Matters"
Present the financial reality of RAD treatment and the systemic gaps families face.
Highlight statistics or case studies showing the broader societal benefits of keeping families intact.
9. Get Involved
"Be a Part of the Solution"
Provide clear pathways for donors, volunteers, and partners to contribute.
Offer options for one-time donations, recurring contributions, or sponsoring a child.
10. Contact & Call to Action
"Take the First Step Toward Healing"
Include contact information, an embedded form for donations or inquiries, and a compelling closing call-to-action to encourage immediate engagement.
Example: “Join us in giving every child a chance to heal and every family a chance to stay together.”
About The Life Quest Foundation
Our Story
Monte's career background is in public education where he worked for 10 years as both a teacher and an administrator. Monte worked as a high school History, Government, and Spanish teacher for 6 years, and in an administrative role as an elementary school Principal for 4 years. Rachael had her hands full at home with their growing family of 6 kids. Monte loved his time in public education, but he always knew in his heart there was something different he should be pursuing. Together, Monte and Rachael made the difficult, but exciting decision to leave their career in public education to pursue their dream of owning and operating their own business.
Their story after public education begins when Monte and Rachael put their dream into action and decided to open an all girls "treatment like" home in 2018 called Life Quest Girls Academy. The hope was, and always has been to help students succeed in life. In their naivety, Monte and Rachael simply thought every girl who entered the doors at Life Quest would want help improving their lives. They quickly realized that sadly not all students wanted, or were interested in the help they were being offered.
In the beginning, and not knowing any better, Life Quest Girls Academy modeled and mimicked other non-voluntary, treatment facilities. Students would come to Life Quest not by their own choice but rather by the choice of their parents or on the recommendation of their previous facility. This seemed to be a recipe for mistrust, struggle, and defiance right out of the gate for most students who arrived at Life Quest Girls Academy. Simply put, students didn't want to be there, and Monte and Rachael constantly thought who could blame them? This ultimately broke Monte and Rachael's hearts as they truly only ever wanted to help their students improve their lives.
After 3 years of struggle, and trying to figure it out, Monte, Rachael made the decision to completely change their business model to align and reflect their original vision and dream of having a loving and caring "home like" educational boarding school instead of having a non-voluntary treatment like facility.
Through many sleepless nights, heart to heart conversations, and attendance at many educational conferences on the topic of adoption, Monte and Rachael made a decision that changed the path and trajectory of Life Quest Girls Academy forever. The choice was simple, either close the doors to their business, or to go back to the drawing board and drastically change the direction they were heading. Monte and Rachael simply wanted to be part of the solution for finding help for as many deserving families as possible.
The decision was obvious, and not a hard choice to make. However, switching gears, doing a 180 degree turn, and implementing a new paradigm of thought that would completely change the daily routine, processes, expectations, schedule, etc. at Life Quest for both students and staff alike would be the ongoing uphill challenge.
Equal to the task, and with much excitement, Monte and Rachael began the process to switch things up from a mandatory, non-optional residential "treatment like" facility for incoming students to a strictly voluntary, academically focused boarding school. Things began to take shape, and Monte and Rachael couldn't be happier with the overall changes and feeling these much needed adjustments brought to not only their business vision and mission, but more importantly the overwhelming positive effects it has had on the wonderful students and staff living and working at Life Quest Girls Academy each day.
Monte and Rachael have constantly noticed the majority of families who were interested in their boarding school services for their daughters desperately needed financial assistance for tuition costs. Unfortunately, the fixed costs of running a viable boarding school were not cheap. In order to offer a quality product and experience for all students and staff involved at Life Quest Girls Academy, tuition costs were required.
Monte and Rachael were able to provide a few in-house scholarships for deserving families, but it seemed like a drop in the bucket and most families still weren't able to afford the demands of tuition costs even with the help of supplemental in-house scholarships. Seeking ways to help as many families as possible, Monte and Rachael decided to dissolve their for profit business, and start a 501- C3 Non-profit called "The Life Quest Foundation". This decision was also an easy one as Monte and Rachael saw this as an opportunity and way to raise money for the purpose of increasing their supplemental scholarships towards tuition costs for families to be able to afford to send their daughter to Life Quest Girls Academy for safe, structured out-of-home placement. Being able to offer these financial scholarships that are more than just a drop in the bucket will bless many families and will enable them to stay together as a family and not have to go to extremes such as relinquishing rights of adoption back to the state and send their daughters back into the "system".
Adoption for some families can be challenging and dangerous to say the least. Due to unforeseen effects from trauma experienced during infancy and early childhood, many children who are adopted are incapable of attaching to their new, adopted family. The result can be some of the most challenging and dangerous situations families can ever live through and experience. Families who adopt want nothing but the best for their children. Unfortunately, due to the trauma experienced, and other factors, these loving efforts can be met with severe resistance and rejection, which often leads to turmoil and contention within the home and family dynamic.
Research has found that when the pressures to attach are removed from many adopted children, their brains can calm and relationships can begin to be built when space and structure replace attachment pressure. Loving their daughter from a distance and pursuing out-of-home placement is never in the plan when parents initially choose to adopt. But finding safe, secure, out-of-home placement in a trusted environment becomes a crucial and life saving step for many families who have adopted and realize they are now in crisis. This is where The Life Quest Foundation can have such an amazing impact and those willing to donate to this worthy cause will literally be helping save lives, keeping families together, and blessing generations to come by their thoughtful generosity.
What is RAD?
For those who are unfamiliar with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), it is a devastating disorder that affects mostly adopted children who have been unable to develop or form healthy emotional bonds with their parental figures. RAD is a trauma response typically due to emotional neglect or abuse at an early age. RAD can, however, also develop in adopted children who have been adopted at birth. This happens when the child develops a traumatic response to the abandonment of their biological parents. Children with RAD have trouble managing their emotions, keeping themselves and those around them safe, and forming meaningful connections with other people. Children with RAD rarely seek or show signs of comfort and may seem fearful and anxious around their caregivers because their fight or flight response is usually always active. This can happen even when, or quite typically- especially when, their caretakers are loving and caring.
Because of the trauma response associated with RAD, these children feel more unsafe, more fearful, and more out of control when they feel nurtured or they feel there is an expectation or pressure to attach to their adopted parents and/or family. When RAD behaviors present, children become more and more out of control of their emotions and tend to rely solely on their fight or flight response. This makes it extremely difficult for the adopted families and the adopted children in every scenario. When a child is living in their fight or flight response, they cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be educated, they cannot form meaningful relationships, and they simply cannot sustain normalcy among their extreme anxiety or discomfort.
What Options are there for Families dealing with RAD?
One of the best options for children struggling with severe RAD, among family therapy, is to remove the child from the home environment for a period of time. This may seem like adopted parents are only contributing to the disorder, but what this actually does, is allows the child’s brain to calm down, it allows the child to feel loved and safe from a distance they are comfortable with, and a distance they feel in control of. It allows a child with RAD to have the space and comfort needed in order to actually form a relationship with their adopted parents and families. It allows them to develop coping skills for emotional regulation because they can identify emotions outside of their fight or flight response. It allows the anxiety and discomfort that comes with the attachment disorder to subside long enough to learn and to understand, and most importantly, to be understood.
Some may argue that a child with RAD can be “loved” into healing. “Love them more. Nurture them more," is the plea from most outsiders looking in. The most heartbreaking part of this disorder is that what these children need most is, in fact, to be consistently loved and nurtured, but unfortunately, it is also what they reject the fiercest and the most violently. (Usually to the detriment of other adopted or biological children in the family, the adopted family’s home, and most of all the nurturing enemy: The Mother.)
Who does the Foundation Help?
The resources that most adopted families have are not vast enough to cover the costs of out of home placement. Because of this, thousands of kids with attachment disorders are then put back into the foster care system, only to have their disorder validated and worsened with more inconsistency, and more broken families.
The Life Quest Foundation was born so that families could receive scholarships in an effort to keep their families intact. Out of home placement is temporary, but often necessary to work through the disorder. This often means that parents have to painfully put aside what they want their family to look like, or the idea of what raising their adopted child looked like, in an effort to actually put them first so they can keep the family together. If out of home placement means that parents can still maintain a parent/child relationship with their child with RAD, but at a distance that feels safe for them, then that option should be available before relinquishment becomes a reality. Too many adopted children are relinquished or given back to the foster care system because families are burdened with the effects of attachment disorders and do not have the resources they need in order to get the help their adopted children and their family needs to ultimately stay together.
If The Life Quest Foundation can help one child with Reactive Attachment Disorder, we have saved a family. Every child deserves a family and every child deserves the opportunity to keep their family, despite how much trauma they have to work through.
How can You help?
The Life Quest Foundation provides scholarships to families who cannot afford the resources they need in order to give their children and their family options for care, life skills, and education. If you, or someone you know, would like to donate to this cause, please email the foundation at [email protected].