Early Childhood Attachment
Franklin*, a three-year-old boy was recently placed in foster care due to domestic violence in his home. His biological mom, Veronica* was able to get support from her foster care team, her own therapist, and an Early Childhood Attachment (ECA) therapist through D.A. Blodgett St. John's.
Early Childhood Attachment Services facilitates opportunities for parent-child interaction and play; guidance in regards to child development; and provides supportive counseling to children 0-5 years old, along with their families to increase safe and nurturing environments where families can thrive. As D.A. Blodgett began to work with Veronica, she showed interest in increasing her parenting skills, which would also help her to get Franklin back in her home. Veronica was also very concerned about if or how the trauma of the violence had impacted her son. She was eager to soak up all information possible to help her grow as a parent.
Through Early Childhood Attachment Services, Veronica has learned the skills necessary to manage her son’s tantrums, talk to him about his feelings, appropriately discipline him, and bond with her son. She has also learned how to talk about the events that have happened and are happening with him in a way that he can understand. All of these strategies have helped Franklin make sense of his current reality and helped Veronica be a more confident parent.
Veronica has excelled in each service that she participated in. She recently reported, “I feel like I really know what to do and how to be a good mom.” After about nine months in foster care, the family was given the good news that Franklin will begin transitioning to his home to be reunited with Veronica.
Early Childhood Attachment is just one of the programs DABSJ provides. The organization also offers counseling, foster care, adoption, mentoring, and residential care.
You may benefit from this program if you are a parent experiencing:
- Stress with your children’s behavior
- Crisis in the home
- Difficulty with bonding with your children
- Have questions about development
- Experiencing grief or loss
*Names have been changed.