Facilitating developmental attachment : the road to emotional recovery and behavioral change in foster and adopted children /
Daniel A. Hughes.
- Northvale, N.J. : J. Aronson, c2004.
- viii, 264 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-256) and index.
This book shows how to work successfully with emotional and behavioral problems rooted in deficient early attachments. In particular, it addresses the emotional difficulties of many of the foster and adopted children living in our country who are unable to form secure attachments. Traditional interventions, which do not teach parents how to successfully engage the child, frequently do not provide the means by which the seriously damaged child can form the secure attachment that underlies behavioral change. Dr. Daniel Hughes maps out a treatment plan designed to help the child begin to experience and accept, from both the therapist and the parents, affective attunement that he or she should have received in the first few years of life. Hughes\' approach includes using foster and adopted parents as co-therapists; teaching differentiation between old and new parents; overcoming the perception of discipline as abusive; and framing misbehavior, discipline, conflicts, and parental authority as important aspects of a child\'s learning to trust.