Attachment and Bonding
| Topic | Summary |
|---|---|
| What Everyone Needs to Know about Bonding | 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. Read more |
| Definitions of Terms | Why is it so important to define bonding in specific and objective terms? Two important reasons stand out. Read more |
| Bonding Defined | In order to have meaning in court, the definition of bonding needs to be clear, specific, and objective. Read more |
| How Bonding Develops | Bonding is a continuum, a progression from distance to intimacy. Read more |
| What Bonding Is Not | Bonding is not everything. Bonding may be more clearly understood by differentiating it from what it is not. Read more |
| Sibling Bonding | What about bonding between siblings? Children bond to one another over time in the same way it happens between children and adults. Read more |
| Contested Adoptions and the Role of Bonding | Disputed adoptions may be decided on the issue of bonding vs. biological kinship. Read more |
| A History of Bonding Definitions | Human bonding refers to the development of a close interpersonal relationship between family members or friends. Read more |
| Attachment | The word attachment can have several meanings. Even in professional discussion, it is often loosely substituted for bonding, relationships, or affection. Read more |
| Multiple Attachments or Bonds and Conclusion | What can be done when there are conflicting attachments or bonds? Older children may be significantly attached to birth parents, and subsequently, during their stay as foster children, they become significantly attached to foster parents as well. Read more |
| Modeling Attachment | Parents may find it hard to relate to a child day in and day out without any emotional response. The child’s failure to respond is hard to take. Despite these difficulties foster parents can help. Read more |
Visitor-submitted questions
| Question | ACT's Response |
|---|---|
| Even though we have had our foster children for nearly four years and want to adopt, the child welfare department wants to take and place them in another home with older birth siblings. |
Bonding is a significant reciprocal attachment which both parties want and expect to continue, and which is interrupted or terminated at considerable peril to the parties involved. Bonding is likely after three months of 24/7 contact, probable after six, and almost certain after 12 months. Interrupted bonding is significantly correlated with an increase in childhood and adult mental illness, adult crime and violence, homelessness, and poverty. Bonding, when it occurs, should take precedence over blood kinship if the best interests of the child are to be served. I recommend that you obtain a copy of our book, "Bonding and the Case for Permanence," and arrange for a Bonding Evaluation. Good luck! Read more |
| We loved your book on Bonding, found it very helpful. |
We appreciate your kind words and are glad our book was of use. Read more |
