Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children

Even though this book is written for therapists, it is extremely helpful for parents as well. I am the mother of a child with RAD who is being treated according to Hughes' therapy methods, and the child is responding positively after only a few months. She was with a traditional therapist for over a year and her pathology only got worse. Hughes emphasis in therapy is parental attunement with the child. This is key to attachment.I would bet that the reviewers who have called his techniques "unethical," and "pseudoscience" do not have children with RAD. Holding therapy is not torture, it is therapeutic. Torture is living a life with no attachments to other human beings. Read this book for understanding, and be sure to find an attachment therapist to work with, hopefully one recommended by other parents with RAD children. You will need professional guidance - it's not a DIY project.

I have 3 adopted children with attachment problems. I've read many, many books on this subject. Hughes' book, though written primarily for therapists, has been the most helpful to me as a parent. Hughes does a great job of describing unattached children and the treatment therapists and parents need to provide to help children bond. Parents considering adopting older children need to read this book. I wish I'd had this book 10 years ago. The mistakes we could have avoided might have given our children a much better chance at a normal life. I also wish Hughes would include information about strategies for dealing with unattached young children who have become unattached teens.

Daniel Hughes, Ph.D. has written a brilliant prescription for working with the attachment disordered child. He is able to deliver his information in simple, easy to understand form while citing all literature and historical information used to develop his approach to working with the most "difficult child". He has an uncanny understanding of the unattached child and has spent his lifetime treating these children to develop a procedure that works, rather than using traditional therapy interventions that have been shown to be less than effective. Kudos to Daniel Hughes, Ph.D for leading the way for the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of children with attachment disorder. His work will go a long way to treating these children as the victims they are rather than pathologizing them rather than their abuse.

Dan is a phenomenal counselor, speaker, and, now, author. His approach is straight forward and compassionate. For any family (mine's adopted) facing attachment issues, Dan's insight is on the mark and his approaches are very helpful. The book builds on numerous theoretical approaches to attachment and provides clinical and therapeutic techniques that really work in helping children build attachment. It is my bible and I have read it twice. My copy has so many underlines highlights and notes from my children that I don't think I could read it a third time for all my scribbling! Most importantly, the suggestions are POSSIBLE. The approaches Dan suggests can be done by any parent or caregiver truly interested in helping their troubled child. It doesn't take two people. Be prepared, it does take the patience of Job. Of course, we all know that is part of the game with troubled children.

I would highly recommend this book to other foster parents. It thoroughly describes therapeutic techniques, both for use in the therapist's office and in the home, and explains why and how they work. It emphasizes the hard work of treating and parenting the child with attachment problems and offers hope. I also want to offer a couple of criticisms: 1) There is too much jargon in the introductory chapters explaining theory; it may discourage some readers, but the book does get easier to understand. 2) The author deals only with success stories. I'm sure his methods have not succeeded with all his clients, and even a short description of "failures" would have provided balance. It would have been helpful if he'd listed his criteria for accepting clients-- what are the behavioral, personality, and/or family characteristics that suggest someone is likely to benefit, and on what basis does he refer clients elsewhere? 3) I wish he'd included something about the politics of getting therapeutic help for foster and adoptive kids. Sounds like many of his clients are longterm, and treatment can't be cheap; I'm wondering how families afford his services. A plug for the importance of adoption subsidies and true treatment foster care would have been a bonus. Colleen M. McDonald