Parenting Children with Attachment Difficulties: Views of Adoptive Parents and Implications for Post-Adoption Services

Abstract

A growing number of children placed for adoption are found to have attachment difficulties. Such difficulties can be profound, leading to disruptive behaviour which adoptive parents often find hard to cope with and understand. As Mary Beek contends in this paper, one of the challenges for adoption agencies is to offer such families appropriate support. In examining a project carried out by the Norfolk-based Adoption and Family Finding Unit's post-adoption service, she demonstrates how specialised help involving parents and post-adoption social workers can dramatically improve the quality of care for adopted children — and indeed the quality of life for all the family. She also underlines the value of attachment theory as a tool for helping adoptive parents understand their children's behaviour.