New Hope for Deprived Children is the carefully documented story of the development of a group of children from infancy through early adolescence. Exhibiting the effects of severe institutional deprivation in the early part of their lives, these children became the focus of a therapeutic programme within an institution designed to relieve their serious developmental deficiencies. The programme and its effects confirmed the faith of the researchers involved that recovery to a certain degree was possible, even with an institutional setting. Further recovery was effected by later placement in foster and adoptive homes.

The lives of twenty-eight of these children have been recorded and the data analysed. This book presents their stories in both human and scientific terms. The guidance procedures and therapeutic intervention were based on a personality theory of 'security,' which allowed the research and guidance team to provide a consistent frame of reference to all procedures designed to move the children increasingly closer to 'normal' behaviour. The range of adaptation to homes and community reflects the individual capacities of each child and the capacities of each family to sponsor such individuality. Both the group analysis and the individual histories provide fascinating information and, additionally, pose many fundamental questions about human development.