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Attachment
Attachment in the context of involving children in
assessment
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
What is attachment?
• Theory of personality development in the context of close relationships (Howe 1999)
• An affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through time and space and serves to join them emotionally (Kennel 1976)
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
What does it provide?
• Safe base• Balance between trust and autonomy• Psychological development• Physical development• Cognitive development• Conscience development• Identity
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
How long does it last?
Shifted and renegotiated through life:• Infant…• Toddler…• Child…• Adolescent…• Independence…• Parenthood…• Care of elders
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Why of interest to children's professions?
• Why close relationships matter• How the quality influences development• Assessing relationships – children's state and
parents’ ability to care• Quality and character of relationships • Improving parent and child relationships• Parents’ own experiences• Extended family – relevance for kinship care
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
What are attachment behaviours?
• Bring child in close proximity to caregiver• Maximise care and protection• Evolutionary – increase survival chances• Doesn’t automatically mean healthy bond• Give information about nature of attachment
– behaviours and responses• Relevant to developmental stage
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Patterns of attachment
• Secure• Ambivalent• Avoidant• Disorganised• Combinations of the above• Unattached
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Care givingCare giving behaviours reinforce good attachment
or compound attachment. Optimum behaviours on the left and cause for concern on the right.
• Sensitive -------- Not attuned
• Acceptance -------- Rejection
• Cooperation -------- Interference
• Accessibility -------- Ignoring
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Attachment – cultural issues
• Basic concepts are same universally• Aspects vary across cultures• Attachment figures affected by family
structure• Long-term separations• Family networks and connections vital• Asylum seeking children – effects of
separation.
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Effects of lack of attachment
• Difficulty relating normally• Difficulty growing socially, maintaining
relationships• Difficulty caring for others• Egocentric, impulsive, babyish,• Difficulties with rules and laws• Lack of trust – highly defended
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Separation and loss
• Separation involves fear which needs to be mastered; and loss involves grief which needs to be expressed (Aldgate & Simmonds 1990)
• Grief is the process through which one passes in order to recover from loss (Fahlberg 1994)
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Stages of grief(taken from On Death and Dying by Kubler-
Ross,1969)• Shock• Denial• Anger• Bargaining• Sadness/despair• Resolution
Communicating with Children © National Children's Bureau 2006
Stages of withdrawal(taken from A Child’s Journey Through
Placement by Fahlberg, 1994)
• Protest
• Despair
• Quiet withdrawal
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