When Bowlby first published his comprehensive report to the World Health Organization on maternal deprivation, his conclusions and recommendations stimulated useful research and provoked critical discussion. The republication of this report 15 years later, together with six articles by others evaluating the monograph's implications, gives us a welcome opportunity to reconsider the findings from a historical perspective, and to acquaint a new generation of physicians with the problems of homeless children, which are still very much with us.