Attachment in Infants
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Facilitating attachment in all infants is essential for them to develop a sense of trust in the world ("Adoption," 1990, p. 1). Their basic trust in the world forms the foundation for the development of the infants and their interaction with other people and society (Helding, 1994). By trusting their primary caretakers, infants feel safe to explore their surroundings, knowing that their primary caretakers are close to them. Young children often look back to their parents for signs of reactions and support. These interactions and trust lead to internal referencing when the children get older. In making decisions about various activities, they think about their parents' reactions even when the latter is physically not there (Doolittle, 1995). Without a sense of attachment, the children will grow up without acknowledging social standards and the values of the parents. The children will be ruled by their own impulses and will (Helding, 1994). For adopted infants and toddlers, the attachment process is even more crucial because of the transition between primary caretakers. Therefore, all the techniques used to facilitate attachment in newly born infants should be employed in order to help adopted children adjust to their new lives and surroundings. Furthermore, even if these infants and toddlers have been adopted at a later age, some of these techniques are still useful because their attachment needs may not have been met in their previous environment. In this paper, the strateg
. . .
d infants are: Responsiveness to the baby by figuring out the specific needs of the baby; holding the baby, making eye contact; smiling; talking or singing to the baby; sleeping together with the baby; wearing the baby in a baby carrier; and respecting the baby's developmental rate. These attachment strategies apply to all babies, especially adopted children.
It is vital to address the importance of facilitating attachment in the context of adopted children because of their unique experiences and needs. Since the process of forming attachment is disrupted for adopted children by the changes in primary caretakers during the formative stages of their lives, adoptive parents need to work even harder to restore the infants' sense of trust ("Adoption," 1990, p. 2). Consequently, these infants suffer from various degrees of attachment problems because the normal attachment process that takes places within the first two years of the relationship is interrupted. The severity of the attachment disorder ultimately depends on the number of breaks during the attachment process and the sensitivity of the infant. Therefore, the attachment process of the adopted children will be fraught with difficulties and take a longer time in the new surr
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ashley Montagu, , Research Center, Disinhibited Type, Online April, William Goldfarb, adopted children, Special Delivery, facilitating attachment, References Doolittle, primary caretakers, doolittle 1995, attachment process, facilitating attachment infants, attachment infants, attachment newly, helding 1994, newly adopted, adoption 1990, Online America, Eastern Europe, april 16 2000, online april 16, 16 2000 available, online america online,
Approximate Word count = 1580
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Attachment in Infants
|