They chose to do this in what was officially a registered children's home but, unlike other conventional units, it would also be their family home, posing all of the problems and advantages such an arrangement immediately suggests.
From the subsequent 20 years Cairns and his wife spent as parents to the 15 children who eventually became family members, Cairns has produced a part-study, part-memoir that in its blend of academic tone and readable style offers a great deal of insight for anyone involved with children separated from their birth parents.
The book encourages a more holistic view of children in state care than is currently employed and covers topics from identity, integration and stabilisation, to how punishment should be employed in the family setting.
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