The Growth of Love
Keith White identifies five essential elements for child development and the growth of love. There are many insights from foster care and the resources and experience of the Christian faith.
The five elements identified as essential to child development are: Security (a secure base) Boundaries (moral, consistent) Significance (identity and recognition) Community (peers, associations) Creativity (opportunities for play and making).
The encouraging feature of the book is the realization that these five elements for love can be found in the most unlikely places and situations, and where they are present, in whatever form, love is able to grow.
Dr Keith J White is Director of Mill Grove where, with his wife Ruth, he is responsible for a residential community caring for children who have experienced separation and loss. He is well versed in the literature of child development and psychiatry. His first degree was in English Literature and he has researched residential child care in Scotland, and later in India. He is former president of the UK Social Care Association and Chair of the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations. Currently, Keith is an Associate Lecturer at Spurgeon's College, and Visiting Lecturer in Child Theology at the Malaysian Baptist Theological Seminary. He is Chair the Child Theology Movement.
From Triple Helix - Easter 2009
At a time when solutions to manage troubled children and teenagers vacillate between liberal and punitive extremes, this book challenges contemporary views of childcase to provide a secure framework for enabling children to develop their full potential as people made in God's image.
Dr White draws on a lifetime's experience of working alongside children and young people who have known separation and loss. He applies expertise in theology and psychosocial theory, underpinned by biblical understanding and living faith, to develop five essential elements of development.
These are: security in the knowledge they are loved; clear boundaries for behavior that leave them free to explore; assurance of their worth and significance; including in nurturing communities that enable them to flourish; and an environment with opportunities for creative play, worship and recreation. The children's stories make this enjoyable as well as informative. Despite being erudite and far-reaching, this book is very readable. All involved in parenting, teaching or pastoral care of children within and outside the Christian community will gain new insights from it.
Reviewed by Kirsty Saunders.
From The Church Times - September 2008
The Growth of Love is a moving description, heavily informed by psychological insight, of the author's lifetime commitment to Mill Grove, described as a Christian therapeutic residential community for children in need.
For decades, dyslexic children were regarded as not very bright, ADHD children were deemed to be naughty, and children on the autistic spectrum were seen as odd. Keith White's focus is on attachment disorder: on children whose chaotic upbringing leads them to distrust, and even destroy, any attempt by others to establish meaningful relationships. It makes sobering reading.
Reviewed by Dennis Richards
Children Webmag - July 2008
The Growth of Love has recently been reviewed by Chris Hanvey in the Children Webmag. If you'd like to read the review, please visit the Children Webmag website at www.childrenwebmag.com.
Children Webmag - June 2008
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