Attachment is forming emotional bonds between a parent or caregiver and a child. Secure attachment is crucial for a child’s mental health, especially when they were previously impacted by trauma or loss. However, it’s just as vital that the parent or caregiver attach to the child in their care. Understanding that attachment is a two-way street is an essential first step in helping your child overcome their earlier life experiences.

Understanding attachment and how it impacts emotional development across the child’s life will help parents and caregivers teach healthy attachment skills to the child. Forming these emotional bonds in childhood is the foundation for building healthy relationships and emotional skills that will carry them into adulthood.

Attachment can be challenging for adoptive or foster parents or kinship caregivers for various reasons. The child’s challenging behaviors might make it hard to love them automatically. Your role in the child’s life might be temporary. Previous family dynamics may hold you back from fully connecting with your child. Nonetheless, parents and caregivers need to learn how to help children form attachments and learn how to trust that somebody will meet their needs. There are parenting techniques and activities you can do to help you understand attachment and bond with this child.