Training courses for foster carers
This 1 day course explores many different aspects of attachment theory and the implications it has for developing children.
More and more children are failing to develop secure attachments to loving, protective caregivers. These children are left without the most important foundation for healthy development.
Research has shown that up to 80% of high risk families (abuse and neglect, poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, history of maltreatment in parents’ childhood, depression and other psychological disorders in parents) create severe attachment disorders in their children.
Disrupted and anxious attachment not only leads to emotional and social, problems, but also results in biochemical consequences in the developing brain.Infants raised without loving touch and security have abnormally high levels of stress hormones, which can impair the growth and development of their brains and bodies.
The neurobiological consequences of emotional neglect can leave children behaviourally disordered, depressed, apathetic, slow to learn, and prone to chronic illness. Compared to securely attached children, attachment disordered children are significantly more likely to be aggressive, disruptive and antisocial.
Disruption of attachment during the crucial first three years of life can lead to what has been called “affectionless psychopathy”, the inability to form meaningful emotional relationships, coupled with chronic anger, poor impulse control, and a lack of remorse.
This course meets the requirements of the Training, Support and Development Standards for foster care: 3.4 b, 5.1 a, b, c, 5.6 c, 6.3 b, 7.3 d, e