Attachment Issues with Adoption
Attachment is the process of forming emotional bonds between parent and child. For healthy emotional development throughout life, the child must attach to the parents; but it is just as true that the parent has to attach to the child.
Attachment is not necessarily automatic with children adopted past infancy, but attachment can be taught and learned. There are activities and attachment parenting techniques that can help both children and parents bond.
Creating a Family has extensive resources on attachment issues in Adoption, both to help the child attach to the parents and to help parents attach to their children. Here are a few of our most recent ones that we think you will find particularly helpful:
- 8 Ways to Strengthen Attachment with Your Child (article)
- Help! I’m Not Sure I Can Love This Child! (article)
- How Your Attachment Style Impacts Your Adopted/Foster Kids (article)
- A Conversation with Dr. Bruce Perry About Trauma (1 hr. podcast)
- How a Parent’s History with Attachment and Trauma Impacts Fostering and Adoption (1 hr. podcast w/ expert)
- Practical Tips for Disciplining While Maintaining Attachment (1 hr. podcast w/ expert)
- Suggested Books on Attachment and Attachment Issues for Adoptive Parents
Many more Creating a Family interviews with experts, blogs, and fact sheets on attachment can be found at the icons below.
Image credit: Suzanne Hanlon
Additional Resources
