A trans-cultural perspective on life story therapy with adoptive foster and kinship families, using the “Theatre of Attachment” model

Abstract

This chapter reflects on a PhD study of “Theatre of Attachment”, a therapeutic intervention undertaken with adoptive and foster families, whose children had been removed from their birth families and in many cases had multiple experiences of care. It focuses on the children’s life story as a means of facilitating secure attachment where past trauma and the children’s propensity for self-blame had made this problematic. The home setting is considered especially important to ensure sufficient safety to engage children for whom the impediments of poor self-esteem, lacking a sense of belonging, expectation of rejection and of being moved on, add to their emotional fragility. The presence of the adoptive (and foster) parents as participants in play enables the children to recreate their identity as heroic survivors. Rituals and ceremonies can be a valuable means of integrating children into a new family and culture.