In whose best interest?: One child's odyssey, a nation's responsibility

Dr. Seita's book has helped me to understand the youth that I come into daily contact with on my job. This book gives insight into what these youth experience and how they feel. It truly is inspiring and thought provoking. No kid is a "lost cause."I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Seita in the past and I look forward to reading his future books.

The author draws on his own experience as a troubled, fatherless youth who was removed from his alcoholic mother and experienced a dozen failed cour-ordered placements in foster care and institutional settings. Today, this former troubled youth holds a doctorate and is an expert on resilient youth. Dr. Seita reflects on the process of reclaiming adult-wary, rebellious youth and provides a blueprint for success with these challenging young people. He writes this book with co-authors from Starr Commonwealth, the treatment program where John turned his life around. To those who propose that troubled youth should be discarded through policies of zero tolerance and harsh punishment, Seita's book speaks with pround moral authority. This book will be equally meaningful to any professional and lay readers who are open to the message that even our most troubled youth can be redeemed.

Good textbook for people working in residential care with children removed from the homes of their parents. This book shows the pain of children and the dedication of professionals.

An excellent book that puts a real face on a system that tends to lose track of its mission all too frequently. Seita, in particular, shows some real insight into a tangible way to help all in the caring professions to turn from a reactive/remedial model to one that is not not only proactive, but not based on 'fixing' broken lives, but helping people to grow beyond their current experience. I highly recommend this to all in the helping professions.