Types of Attachment in the Adopted Child

I want to touch on the types of attachment disorders that an adopted child can have because our social worker recently asked us how AJ has attached. My father keeps telling us that AJ has no problems with attachment and that he has adjusted just fine.

Well, we know better. We know that he still struggles with separation anxiety and anxious attachment because of how he acts when I leave the room or when I am gone. Sure, he gets on the bus just fine and will go with my parents or Uncle Clark but he feels safe with them and he feels safe at school. However, if he does not know where I went he gets scared…anxious.

These attachment disorders are the ones that we initially learned about through Doris Landry, our attachment therapist who is located in Michigan and part of the Attachment Coalition. She recently wrote an article for Adoptive Families on Post Adoption Depression, something that I spoke to her a lot about.

There are generallly four types; Secure attachment in which infants will become visibly upset when the mother leaves the room, Anxious-avoidant attachment (infants pay little attention to the caregiver when she is in the room and they tend not to protest when the caregiver leaves the room), Anxious-resistant attachment (infants cry vigorously upon separation and approach their caregivers upon reunion. However, they also resist comforting and are not easily soothed.), and Disorganized attachment (infants behave in contradictory, unpredictable ways that seem to convey extreme fear and utter confusion).