Lost Child: The True Story of a Girl Who Couldn't Ask for Help

What happens to an infant who never bonds with her family? She might become needy or she might dissociate from everyone and everything. What if those two aspects combine and collide? You have a girl like Jessie in Torey Hayden’s Lost Child.

When Jessie became impossible to control her family let her go. They institutionalize her and do not want her to come home. She carries the scars of rejection along with a flagrant disregard for the truth and social conventions. The world believes she’s unable to bond, and she seems eager to prove they are right.

Enter educational psychologist Torey Hayden, a woman with skills and infinite patience, who meets with Jessie one on one, observing her manipulation and flagrant lies. Hayden sets boundaries, brings in games and other tools, and wins Jessie’s approval with a bag full of puppets. Jessie especially loved Puppy, a puppet she set on the table so it could watch over their sessions each time Torey brought her bag of puppets. Other favorites included Mama and Baby Bears, who fought with one another allowing Jessie to act out her story of life with her family.

Because of her inappropriate closeness, Hayden suspects the child has been abused, and when Jessie talks about a warm, loving male teacher touching her inappropriately, she costs him his job. Who is she lashing out at and what will it take for her to handle her feelings appropriately?

The author brings her story to life in well-recounted scenes showing her maintaining a professional distance in their interactions. She tries so hard and makes the reader her confidante as she despairs over Jessie’s outrageous behaviors.

Hayden is a well-known writer and therapist, who shares her journey with honesty, insight, and a gift for story-telling. The joyous moments are blissful, and if you are a parent or a teacher you really should read this. You’ll look at the children in your life in a whole new way.

I was an avid reader of TH's previous books and was thrilled to see she had written a new one! I think Torey's writing has gone downhill...she did not have the same informative yet personal touch to her description of the characters, situation and behaviours. I found I could not get into the story or understand the characters as well as in previous books. I had to push myself to finish the book. Jessie's story could have been more interesting and Torey might have injected more of her humour and details about life out of work. I would have liked to know how her life in Wales had been. I hope she continues to write; perhaps she is a bit rusty? Maybe a memoir about a story from her teaching days or other cases in Wales would be some ideas?I juts missed the old Torey touch to this book.

The book is in beautiful condition, and the delivery was prompt.