Trauma, Attachment and Family Permanence: Fear Can Stop You Loving

Fostered and adopted children can present major challenges resulting from unresolved attachment issues and early traumatic experiences. In this much-needed book, the contributors provide a variety of complementary perspectives on the needs of these children and their families, focusing on ways of integrating attachment theory and developmental psychology into effective practice. Examining multiple aspects of work with children who are unable to live with their birth families, the book includes contributions on the assessment, preparation and support needs of children and families, attachment and the neurobiological effects of trauma, effective management of contact with birth families and developmental challenges in school settings. The use of creative arts therapies, alongside developmental reparenting strategies as part of a long-term attachment therapy 'package' are explored in some detail. A fictionalised family, used as a working example throughout Part 2, brings practical interventions to life: illustrating the Family Futures' inclusive approach, where adoptive and foster parents become pivotal members of the therapeutic team. In addition, contributions from real-life user families illustrate some of the challenges they face and demonstrate how the developmental attachment-based approach has worked for them. Bringing together a rich and innovative selection of ideas for adoption and fostering practice across the disciplines, this book will be a valuable resource for all involved in supporting substitute families.

Daniel A. Hughes is a psychologist who specializes in working with children and young people with trauma/attachment problems and their families. He developed Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, a key feature of which is the parenting attitude of PACE, and Attachment Focused Family Therapy. He is the President of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute, Pennsylvania, USA. He is author of several books including Building the Bonds of Attachment, 2nd edition, and Attachment Focused Family Therapy Workbook.

Caroline Archer is an adoptive parent, an independent consultant in post-adoption support and a therapeutic parent mentor. She is also the bestselling author of Reparenting the Child who Hurts: A Guide to Healing Developmental Trauma and Attachment, First Steps in Parenting a Child who Hurts: Tiddlers and Toddlers 2nd Edition, and Next Steps in Parenting a Child who Hurts: Tykes and Teens (with Christine Gordon).