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. A few we think you will find particularly helpful are:
- The IDEAL Response: How to Maintain Connection When Correcting Your Child (blog post)
- Establishing Secure Attachment with Your New Foster or Adopted Tween or Teen (blog post)
- Beginner’s Guide to TBRI (guest blog post)
- How a Parent’s History with Attachment and Trauma Impacts Fostering and Adoption (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- Practical Tips for Disciplining While Maintaining Attachment (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- Attachment 101 (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- Suggested Books on Attachment and Attachment Issues for Adoptive Parents
Many more Creating a Family radio interviews with experts, videos, blogs, fact sheets, and Q and A’s with Experts on attachment can be found at the icons below.
Image credit: Suzanne Hanlon
Additional Resources
