Dan Hughes shares his expertise on the symptoms, prognosis and treatment for children affected by emotional and behavioural difficulties, with valuable advice on how parents and carers can help children to improve their behaviour and increase their self-esteem. Prospective adopters and carers are often faced with the prospect of having to decide whether they can care for a child with a health need or condition they know little about and have no direct experience of. It can be difficult to know where to turn for reliable information. What lies behind the diagnoses and “labels” that many looked after children bring with them? And what will it be like to live with them? How will they benefit from family life? This book, part of a series looking at health issues, provides expert knowledge about emotional and behavioural difficulties, a common diagnosis in looked after children. This is coupled with facts, figures and guidance presented in a straightforward and accessible style. Adopters and foster carers also describe what it is like to parent an affected child, “telling it like it is”, sharing their parenting experiences and offering useful advice. This combination of expert information and first-hand experiences will help readers to gain knowledge, achieve understanding, and to make informed decisions.

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Finally, a parenting book which demystifies the latest thinking on neurobiology, physiology and trauma and explains what the research means for the everyday life of parents of children who hurt.

As experts on adoption and fostering who are adoptive parents themselves, Caroline Archer and Christine Gordon explain how this knowledge can help parents to better understand and care for their child. They explain why conventional parenting techniques are often not helpful for the child who has experienced early trauma and explore why therapeutic reparenting is the only way to help repair the unhealthy neurobiological and behavioural patterns which affect the child’s development. They do not shy away from how difficult reparenting is, acknowledging how hard it can be to recognise our own fallibility as parents and to change our own parenting patterns. The authors also offer hard-won advice on a range of common parenting flashpoints – from defusing arguments and aggression to negotiating bedtimes and breaks in routine, and making sure that special occasions are remembered for all the right reasons.

Reparenting the Child Who Hurts is a humane, no-nonsense survival guide for any parent caring for a child with developmental trauma or attachment difficulties, and will also provide information and insights for social workers, teachers, counsellors and other professionals involved in supporting adoptive and foster families.

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‘The 21st-Century Girl’s Survival Pack’ – Caitlin Moran

‘I would recommend this brilliantly clear and informative book to every young girl…Tara writes with deep knowledge, warmth and humour about all the challenges young girls and all of us face, and she tells us how to overcome them’ – Julia Samuel

The Sunday Times bestseller

For girls and young women these are shifting times: never before have they had so much freedom and choice; but never before have they had so many demands placed upon them – by themselves as well as others.

Writing directly to girls and young women Dr Tara Porter draws on decades of experience to offer them insight into their own psychology. From exams to friendship, from families to love, Tara pulls together everything she has learnt to provide accessible explanations and suggestions for teenagers and young women everywhere. Like a warm letter from a wise friend or big sister, You Don’t Understand Me not only understands the young person’s perspectives but guides them through their challenges they face.

You Don’t Understand Me is uniquely written to teenagers and young women. But in explaining young women to themselves, it also provides an indispensable guide to their parents: a glimpse behind the rolled eyes and the protestations their daughter makes: ‘You Don’t Understand Me’.

‘If God were a mother, this is the Bible she would write for teenage girls and young women. This book is the greatest gift you could give your daughter’ – Caitlin Moran

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PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS OVERCOMING YOUR CHILD’S FEARS AND WORRIES

Does your child suffer from fears and worries that affect their behaviour or keep them awake at night?

Fears and worries are very common among children with around 15% thought to suffer from anxiety disorders; the most commonly identified emotional or behavioural problems among children. However, if left unchecked, they can cause more serious problems such as school avoidance, difficulties in making friends and long-term problems with anxiety and depression.

Written by two of the UK’s foremost experts on childhood anxiety, this extremely useful guide will enable you to understand what is causing your child’s worries and to carry out step-by-step practical strategies to help him or her to overcome them, including:

· Addressing specific fears and phobias as well as general anxiety and ‘worrying’
· Using case studies, worksheets and charts

Helping Your Child is a series for parents and caregivers to support children through developmental difficulties, both psychological and physical. Each guide uses clinically-proven techniques.

Series editors: Professor Peter Cooper and Dr Polly Waite

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