Foster children’s attachment representations: the role of type of maltreatment and the relationship with birth family

ABSTRACT

Children in foster care are at risk of developing insecure and disorganized attachment, which is problematic for establishing new relationships in foster families. However, most previous studies have focused on attachment behaviors in young children rather than on attachment representations. We compared foster children’s attachment representations with those of a community group, analyzing also the contribution made by different factors to foster children’s attachment representations. We assessed the attachment representations of 109 children aged between 4 and 9 years (51 children in non-kin foster care and 58 community children) in southern Spain, using a narrative story stem measure. Case records information were collected for adversity and child protection variables. Foster children had fewer security and more avoidance indicators than their community counterparts, with those who had suffered more severe maltreatment scoring lower for security and higher for disorganization. Exposure to physical and emotional abuse and birth parents’ opposition to the foster placement predicted more disorganized attachment representations. Interventions with foster children should consider their heterogeneity in terms of attachment outcomes, and foster caregivers of abused children may need guidance in order to provide therapeutic caregiving.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment representations
• foster care
• maltreatment
• early adversity
• birth family

Acknowledgments

This study forms part of two broader projects carried out in collaboration with the Andalusian Regional Government and local child protection agencies. We thank the families, children, and caseworkers who have altruistically participated in this study. We also thank all the undergraduate students who have helped in the data management of both projects.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

Part of this work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund [SEJ2006-12216; PSI2010-19287; PSI2015-67757-R].