When you try to approach a subject as important as attachment in order to make it more accessible for our community in South East Essex, it is a daunting task.  There is no doubt that for young people who can’t stay with their birth families foster care and adoption is a massive life changing experience that will have deep and long-lasting effects on their lives.

This doesn’t take into account what they have already experienced, which is often serious and damaging.  This is why we have sought to do it as a community with the voices of those young people who have experienced the care system being heard.

Young people who experience this separation from their birth families need carers who are fully equipped to help them cope with their behaviour as well as then being able to move them forward to be able to develop as safely as possible.

Everyone recognises that close loving relationships are key to a healthy and happy young person.  Attachment Theory developed by John Bowlby in the late sixties and early seventies offers a framework for those who want to use it in order to understand the power of relationships.  When a young person is in crisis, they often behave in ways incomprehensible to many adults. 

This project is trying to get at that mystery and support foster carers in our area to know more about this important subject in order to be able to unravel some of the mysteries of what young people in care need in order to be able to move forward in their lives.

Welcome to Understanding Attachment.