Attachment Effects On Foster Children

As stated by the Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care developing a relationship with a nurturing, protective adult who fosters trust and security is key to having a mentally healthy human being. This relationship will manifest attachment which is an ever active process and is necessary for the development of emotional security and emotional conscience. This attachment will occur over an extended period of time when a wide variety of needs are met. Once this attachment forms the child will view the adult as a parent. The perception of a parent is very important for a child, without it, they won't develop a sense of self-worth and will have a low self-esteem as a result. Foster children, especially those who have been abused,
Attachment is especially difficult for foster children between six months and three years of age. This is partly due to their removal from their family, the normal fear and anxiety a child has around strangers, and to their limitations of linguistic abilities. Repeated moves from home can also add to their stress. On average a foster child is in the system for roughly two years, give or take a few months, and during that time is moved about eight times. Adults can deal with impermanence like this by building a sense of self-reliance, planning, and making some form of consistency with a routine. Young children, however, have a difficult time forming a sense of self because they are completely dependent whomever their caregiver is. Children also have a more difficult time dealing with this impermanence because of their sense of time. It has been proven that children can only comprehend the present. Terms like "temporary" and "permanent" mean nothing. Periods of time like a week or a month are not comprehensible to them so disruptions, even for a day, are stressful and will get progressively worse as time continues thus being detrimental to their
Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, the Administration on Children, and Youth, and the Families Children's Bureau in their 2015 issues brief. Positive stress is moderate and brief like stress in our everyday lives, and tolerable stress has the potential to cause damage to the brain but happens infrequently enough that it gives the brain time to recover. These two fall into the category of acute stress, which is stress resulting directly from an event usually leaving a person shocked, with hurt pride, or with a poor sense of control. Toxic stress or Chronic stress is a strong and frequent stress that leads to the release of stress hormones, which can cause wear and tear on the brain. This stress can contribute to the breakdown of other bodily functions and is a precipitating factor of heart disease, depression, type two diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Chronic stress causes changes in structure and chemical activity in the brain, resulting in a change in the emotional and behavioral functioning of the child. As said by the committee, the body's response to stress is caused by the involuntary action of the brain. Physical and mental abuse of a young child often fixes the brain into an acute stress response mode that can make a child have an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors that's purpose is to