Lindsey: Attachment Theory
As a social worker in family preservation, I work to keep families together that are at risk of having their children removed from the home. Most families I work with are struggling with issues like addiction, mental illness, and poverty. I meet with the families in their homes and aim to reduce the risk of abuse or neglect. This involves providing resources to meet the family’s basic needs as well as working on parenting skills, conflict reduction, and anger management. My ultimate goal is to help create a safe home environment for the children to reduce their risk of being put into foster care.
One concept from social psych that I am constantly aware of is attachment theory. Attachment theory can predict the way kids will react to strangers and their own parent based on their secure or insecure attachment. I’ve noticed that children often seem more attached to me—a stranger—than their own parent while I’m visiting the home. This often indicates an abuse or neglect case. The parents of these same children show signs of insecure attachment through their own inability to trust relationships with others. The effects are generational and very difficult to prevent. Children who are securely attached to their parent(s) spend less time in the “intensive phase” and are able to move forward from the difficult situations that brought them into the system. Keeping this in mind has helped me to focus on what’s important for the families.