The Petal Programme
Paediatric Education Transition Attachment Love
Attachment Sets the Foundation For Long Term Emotional Health
Attachment is a clinical term used to describe "a lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Bowlby, 1997).
In particular, attachment theory highlights the importance of a child’s emotional bond with their primary caregivers.
Disruption to or loss of this bond can affect a child emotionally and psychologically into adulthood, and have an impact on their future relationships.
Attachment is a reciprocal process by which an emotional connection develops between an infant and his/her primary caregiver.
It influences the child’s physical, neurological, cognitive and psychological development.
It becomes the basis for development of basic trust or mistrust, and shapes how the child will relate to the world, learn, and form relationships throughout life.
What are the consequences?
Dr Bruce Perry (world leading clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences) advocates that if a baby experiences trauma or experiences limited or no attachment with a carer, it’s starts life on the back foot:
Severe emotional neglect in early childhood the impact can be devastating.
Children without touch, stimulation, and nurturing can literally lose the capacity to form any meaningful relationships for the rest of their lives.
Problems can range from mild interpersonal discomfort to profound social and emotional problems. In general, the severity of problems is related to how early in life, how prolonged, and how severe the emotional neglect has been.
Improvement can take place, but it is a long, difficult, and frustrating process for families and children. It may take many years of hard work to help repair the damage from only a few months of neglect in infancy.
How great is the need?
Of 57,000 births in New Zealand, approximately 35% born in Auckland where the Petal Foundation is based.
The majority of babies follow a near “ideal” journey in their first six months but over 10,000 babies (nearly 20%) are addressable by Petal due to a “challenging environment”, including those taken into care, affected by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) and/or to mothers requiring respite for post-natal depression. Rates are higher for Māori.
