Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children,   ISBN:9780765704047

Customer Rating: 

I'm not one to promote books usually, and I've never written an online book review, but Bonds of Attachment by Daniel Hughes is a well-written, tearjerking, rooting for the character book to promote :) It's a MUST READ for:
**Mental health professionals
**Child and family therapists
**Social workers working with foster children
**Teachers
**Day care workers
**Parents with children who have difficulty connecting
**Parents who have children with "behavior problems"
**Adults who have an abuse/neglect childhood history
and just about anyone else.
This book has been a huge influence on me, both personally and professionally. I can't brag about it enough. It's a case history of a little girl in Maine. The story covers some of her parents background,but mostly it focuses on the journey of a little girl named Katie. Details are written about her experience as well as her case worker, therapist(s), and foster families. It's educational, insightful, emotional, and helpful. I didn't want the book to end. I'm hooked on Daniel Hughes' work. A+++

Customer Rating: 

I found this book to be very informative & well written. It is the first book I have read regarding RAD since my son was diagnosed with attatchment issues.

I found that I could relate to many of the behaviours detailed in the book & it has given me invaluable insight into the confusing and painful world where my son sometimes dwells.

I would have liked a more comprehensive guide into the guidelines for parenting a child with these problems - though I have already tracked down three other books that this one refers to.

All in all a very good starting point. I now have the knowledge that I can learn to parent him in this compassionate and unconventional way.

An inspiration that there is hope that these children can be healed.

Customer Rating: 

This book has changed my whole outlook on what it means to adopt or foster a child. It's given me concrete, very real scenarios to work with. I might not be able to react like the therapeutic mum in the book, but she certainly gives me specific ideas on how to respond to attachment disorder and why. If, like me, you're looking to adopt or foster an older child, I can't recommend it enough. Wish I'd started with this a long time ago!

Customer Rating: 

For two years, and with the help of so many people -- therapists, teachers, football coaches, friends, neighbors, my family -- slowly we have stumbled our way toward creating a safe, cheerful and responsible home.

Then I saw Dr. Hughes speak, and then I read this book. Dr. Hughes gives voice to the intensity, the chaos, the confusion and the beauty of loving and healing a child who must learn to accept and give love to a parent.

As a foster parent, I agree with the reviewer who said that very few of foster parents will be fortunate enough to have a therapist with the knowledge and skills of Allison, the therapist in this book. I say that even though I have had the privilige to work with four therapists that I hold in extremely high regard; still, if any of these beautiful amazing people had a backgrond like Allison's, we all would have all gained.

The one part of the story that didn't ring true was how hard it is to deal with the courts, the lawyers, the birth family, the child welfare system -- all of this can be much, much more complex and intense. It can be almost as painful as the work with the child.

In spite of that, this book shows what is possible, Jackie and her daughter deal with the pain, with courage, good humour and resiliance.

Thanks Dr. Hughes. You're one of the good guys.

Customer Rating: 

This is a great book for anyone who is adopting or recently adopted a RAD kid. Great information and real life scenarios. You follow a child's journey and learn what makes them do the things that they do. It is a day-to-day parenting guide, with some of the best techniques, logic and insight you will find any where! Easy to read, and not a lot of technical jargon.