Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Attachment, for the sake of the child.....



In 'Ideology gives way to nurturing for adoptive parents....' the article discusses a Michigan family who have raised six children and fostered more than seventy children in the past thirty-six years. They became foster parents because of the need, their own infertility struggles, and their ideology of being children of the 60's that set out to save the world. The mother States "it requires nurture to allow whatever nature has given them to blossom."

This is a very true statement. Children must form attachments as a crucial part of development. "Attachment-holding, responding-is what makes human beings, studies have shown that if we leave babies to 'cry it out,' their cortisol response is the same as if they had been stung by a jellyfish." Attachment is truly this crucial.

The attachment theory was derived by a social psychologist who watched during World War II how British parents said their children out of London to the country, where there would be less danger of bombs. During this time he identified three types of attachment which were later added to by Phillip Shaver and his colleagues (though these types of attachment chronicle adult relationships). Today there are four attachment styles based on two dimensions. The attachment theory classifies people into four attachment styles (secure, preoccupied, dismissing avoidant, and fearful avoidant) and is based on two dimensions (anxiety and avoidance).


Types of Attachment:
1. Secure Attachment (This type of attachment classifies people who are low on anxiety and low on avoidance. For example, they are trusting, can talk about their feelings, be supportive and supported, and generally have successful relationships)--If two children come from parents who respond to their needs they are likely to be classified as having 'secure attachments.'
2. Preoccupied Attachment(This type of anxious and ambivalent attachment classifies people who are low on avoidance but high on anxiety. For example, they really want to be close to people but are quite preoccupied with anxiety that their partners or people in their relationships will leave them. ) This can be seen for example in children whose parents frequently leave them, or in foster children who attach to their parents, are removed, return, etc.
3. Dismissing Avoidant Attachment (This type of attachment is when people have low anxiety but high avoidance. They view partners are unreliable, unavailable, and uncaring. ) This can be seen in children whose parents just don't care, and have given up on attachments.
4. Fearful avoidant attachment (This is a style of attachment in which people have both high anxiety and high avoidance. They have low opinions of themselves and keep others from getting close). This can happen when children are frequently disappointed by adults in their lives.

There are a variety of reasons why people attach in a myriad of ways, but children need healthy attachments. The article discusses how thirty five years ago foster parents were counseled not to attach to the children in the care....though it can be hard for foster parents to attach to the children and give them up, it is absolutely essential for the development of the child, and natural in any human relationships. One of the biggest risks for foster children is lack of attachment.

Kids want attachments where they know they are safe, secure, and protected....and this is what the Doyle's have offered children in their care for the past thirty-five years. Offering attachment parenting and love is a selfless gift because it is so absolutely essential. As one social worker offers in the article, "It is important to remember that children are like band-aids, they attach easily the first time or two, but the more they are moved, the less attached they become." No child, in this world, should be left without attachment, this is what allows children to thrive.


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