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