Session 4

Unit Four: What Can Foster and Adoptive Parents Do
to Help?

In this session, you have explored how child development normally progresses as well as the possibility of developmental delay and the impact that maltreatment has on development. We want to end this session with some strategies that you can use to enhance stronger attachments in children who have been maltreated.

The Positive Interaction Cycle

It is important to note that attachment occurs along a continuum from securely attached to insecure attachment. There are many factors that can contribute to the lack of healthy attachments. Poor attachments may be due to a substance abuse problem, the immaturity of the caretaker, a mental health issue, or other problems that parents experience. In foster care, multiple moves and infrequent visitation and/or continuity with birth family members or other important persons in the child’s life may lead to insecure attachments.

In the Arousal-Relaxation cycle, you learned how attachments are formed through a process of needs being met over and over. Relationships go beyond just having our basic needs met. They develop through a process known as the Positive Interaction Cycle.

When the caregiver finds positive ways to interact with a child and gives them positive messages about themselves, a child’s self-esteem and self-worth grows, and so does the attachment between the caregiver and the child.

Strategies for Enhancing Stronger Attachments
with Children