Foster Carers' TSD Standards covered:
- 1.3 Person centred approaches
- 2.1 Fostering role
- 2.3 Relationship with parents and others
- 4.1 Encourage communication
- 4.2 Knowing about communication
- 4.3 Communication with parents, families and friends
- 4.4 Communication with organisations
- 5.1 Attachment and stages of development
- 5.2 Resilience
- 5.3 Transitions
- 5.4 Supporting play, activities and learning
- 5.5 Supporting educational potential
- 5.6 Understanding contexts
- 5.7 Promote positive sexual health and sexual identity
- 5.8 Supporting disabled children and children with special emotional needs
- 6.2 Keeping children safe
- 6.3 Recognising and responding to abuse
- 6.4 Working with other agencies
- 7.1 Your role and approval as a foster carer
- 7.2 Being aware of the impact of fostering on your sons and daughters and extended family
- 7.3 Using support and supervision to develop your role
Author Details
Name: Dr Shivani Chotai
Job Title: Clinical Psychologist
Current place of work: The Child Psychology Service
The attachment system can operate a bit like a book, closing down due early traumatic experiences (i.e. abuse or neglect). This means compassion and affection from adoptive parents or carers can re-open the book (i.e. reactivate the attachment system) but at the place it was originally closed. So, if a child has closed their attachment system (i.e. their ‘book’) at a traumatic stage of their life because of emotional conflicts, neglect or abuse, reactivating the system will reignite these emotional memories. Re-opening this book can evoke strong feelings of shame, particularly if the child believes that they are unworthy of love and are fundamentally ‘bad’. This can therefore be a major block to developing attachment relationships and parents’ or carers’ attempts to build relationships can be avoided or seen as threatening.