I was SHOCKED to see Pat Schroeder writing a forward for a book that not only recommends criminal behavior, but provides actual photos of how to do it. Magid, McKelvy and Schroeder should be in prison for inciting people to abuse children by holding them down for hours and intentionally inflicting pain/fear (e.g. knuckle a child's ribs). It goes without saying that these are fringe methods that would appall ethical mental health professionals.

This book was a lifesaver for my family. I had unknowingly adopted a daughter with Reactive Attachment Disorder and this book was the insight I had into what was wrong. This book is well written and extremely accurate. My daughter who is now grown has read this book and feels that it is a very accurate representation of RAD. Unfortunately, the realities of RAD can be very frightening and often people try to discredit the information in the book due to their lack of knowledge.

I highly recommend this book for any parent who is considering adopting or has adopted an older child. Knowledge will help you adopt a child that is appropriate for you family or provide you with the support you need to help a child you already have in your family.

I want to start out by saying that I feel the review from August 1997 did an extreme injustice to this book. They said that it was a partial review. Their statements made 2 things very obvious. The first is that they did not really know or understand or know what they were talking about with regard to the holding therapy. The second is that they have never dealt with a child that has significant attachment problems.

This is an excellent book, and should be required reading for all divorce attorneys, all parents going through a divorce, and all judges who deal with divorce cases involving children.

The book discusses what attachment is, and what can happen when attachment (bonding) to people does not occur. It helped my wife and I to understand what was happening with a foster daughter we had that we later adopted. We received her at 10 months old, and she had never been with a person long enough to bond. Picking her up was like picking up and cuddling a large board. The little girl did not want to be with anybody that she knew. She would reach out and ask any stranger to take her.

This little girl's problems were severe enough that if she had been older, she would have been very likely to kill. It has taken years of work and patience to help her to develop a deep attachment with people.

One of the problems that this book addresses and helps people to understand is the typical length of time that a child can be apart from their primary caretaker without significant attachment difficulties being likely to occur. This is very important for parents and judges to understand.

The title and subtitle are misleading; this is not a guide to foreign adoption but rather a compendium of horror stories about the worst Romanian orphan case histories. The slant is negative, journalistically sensationalist, and repetitive. Although the subject is of interest, the book is not a guide to the process of adoption, and has very little helpful information to offer.

The focus is on the authors' good works in Romania with special needs toddlers and the book offers very little practical advice to those interested in adopting healthy infants or children internationally. Look elsewhere for guidance.

If you are considering adopting a child from Eastern Europe or China or are in the process of an adoption you should definitely read this book!

There are too few books on the market about adoption from Eastern Europe, and a glut of information about adoption from Asian countries. While I think adoption from *anywhere* is wonderful, I was searching for info on Romanian adoptions. Imagine my delight to read this book written by Dr. Bascom, who was in Romania after the "wall" fell, and the western world got it's first glimpse into Romanian orphanages. Granted, conditions now have improved, but we were very happy to have this source of information. The book was also a great gift for some of our family members, as they got to read about the adoption process, the children, special needs, and our adoption plan. It made the process, and our desire to adopt from Romania, come alive for them. Soooo, if you're adopting from Romania, this book might just be for you!