Bonding is a significant reciprocal attachment which both parties want and expect to continue and which is interrupted or terminated at increased peril to the parties involved.
Bonding is vital to a child’s development. Children need to connect in a compelling and significant way with those who care for them. The disruption of a bonded relationship does considerable damage. The presentation and proof of bonding between the child and the foster/adopt parents may be the strongest argument for keeping them together, especially in a contested adoption. The problem for attorneys and caseworkers is to define bonding and to prove in a factual and evidentiary way that bonding has taken place.
Childhood is short. From birth to maturity the child has much to learn. Most learning will be mediated through personal attachments and relationships. Attachments are vital to the development of a self-sufficient and loving adult. Bonding is a vitally important relationship.