The Jonathon Letters: One Family's Use of Support as They Took in, and Fell in Love with, a Troubled Child

This book gathers together an exchange of letters over the first year of placement of a particularly troubled child suffering from attachment disorder. The correspondence is between Lori Thomas, the foster/adoptive mother, and Michael Trout, Director of The Infant-Parent Institute in Illinois.
Unbeknownst to the two parties, they were recording the story of the tortuously slow and unsteady opening up of the soul of a little boy.
The Jonathon Letters was created in the hopes that these recorded experiences may help others who struggle to heal their child with attachment disorder.
It is a tale of ups and downs, because that's how it is with children whose beginnings have been so tortured. But the reader begins to get a sense of the driving energy of this unique family, who somehow bounce back after every regression, and find ways to understand Jonathon's defiance and rage and to remain connected to their purpose - to help this child heal.

Michael Trout has been working clinically with foster children, with all members of the adoption triad, and with both adults and children who experienced early disruptions in attachment, for three decades. He is the Director of The Infant-Parent Institute in Illinois, and is a father, stepfather, and grandpa.
Lori Thomas is the mother of six children (three of whom are adopted), and a foster parent. She is the President and Founder of Hope Village, Inc., and an advocate and public speaker on children's issues. She lives with her husband, children and two dogs in northern Virginia.