A child’s attachment to a primary caregiver is crucial for her mental health both as a child and as an adult. Attachment is the process of forming emotional bonds between parent and child. Those bonds must be a two-way street: just as the child must attach to the primary caregiver, the parent must also attach to the child.
Attaching to a foster child is sometimes hard for foster parents to do. This could be because they think their role in the child’s life is temporary or maybe the child’s behavior makes them difficult to automatically love. Nonetheless, it is important for foster parents to help their children attach and trust that their needs will be met.
Creating a Family has resources, supported by research and experienced therapists, for helping foster parents and kinship families help the children in their care. A few we think you will find particularly helpful are:
- Using Scripts to Build Trust with Foster & Adopted Kids (blog post)
- Establishing Secure Attachment with Your New Foster or Adopted Tween or Teen (blog post)
- Beginner’s Guide to TBRI (guest blog post)
- Parenting Tweens and Teens (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 for Foster Parents
Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the resources we have on attachment help for foster parents in the form of blogs/articles, radio shows/podcasts, tip sheets, fact sheets, and expert Q & A’s.
Image Credit: Colin Bowern
Additional Resources
