The Experience of Foster Care and Long-Term Attachment

Abstract

There are almost half a million children currently in foster care in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to study the linkage between foster care alumni and long-term attachment. In this qualitative study, six foster care alumni were interviewed. Nine themes emerged: trauma, stolen childhood, relationship style, trust issues, anxieties, current parenting concerns, broken system, coping strategies, and implications for counseling. The results of this study indicate that there are attachment implications for foster care alumni and that the experience of being in foster care was generally perceived as negative.