Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-303) and indexes.

Developing minds in the context of close relationships -- Emotions and mind-mindedness -- Patterns of attachment -- Defensive processes, attachment, and maltreatment -- Physical child abuse -- Psychological maltreatment : emotional abuse, neglect, and rejection -- Disorganized neglect -- Depressed, passive, and physical neglect -- Severe deprivation and chronic neglect including institutionalized care -- Physical abuse and neglect -- Drugs, depression, and domestic violence -- Child sexual abuse -- Parent-infant and young child interventions -- Interventions with pre-school and school-age children -- Interventions with adolescents, adults, and parents.

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Understanding how children's minds form in the context of early caregiving relationships is critical to understanding child maltreatment and its consequences for longer term care. The author takes the most pressing problems facing child welfare practitioners today and uses modern attachment theory to describe and explain the psychosocial dynamics involved. With deepened understanding of how hostile or helpless parenting affects children's behavior and mental health, professionals are better equipped to make sound assessments and to tailor interventions more closely to the needs of both children and their carers.