Promoting Secure Attachment Relationships in Foster Families with the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC) Intervention

Due to a history of early adversity, foster children often show difficulties in the development of new attachment relationships. The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up Intervention (ABC) aims to promote sensitive caregiving and the development of secure attachment relationships in foster families by addressing the critical needs of foster children. The ABC intervention was implemented in Germany for the first time. The efficacy of the intervention was tested in a sample of N = 34 foster families with foster children between the ages of 6 to 24 months. Foster parents reported on parenting stress and on attachment behaviors of the child in a diary. Parenting quality was assessed in a semi-structured play situation and attachment quality was assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure. Foster parents showed higher levels of sensitivity post training (p < .001), they reported an increase in secure attachment behaviors in their foster children (p < .05), and the distribution of attachment relationships classified as secure (59 %) and disorganized (12 %) was comparable to distributions found in biological, middle class samples. Although these results still need further validation by larger control group studies, they give a first indication that the ABC program might be an effective tool to support the development of secure attachment relationships in foster families in Germany.

Automated summary

The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up Intervention (ABC) aims to promote secure attachment relationships in foster families by addressing the critical needs of foster children. The efficacy of the intervention was tested in Germany, showing that trained foster parents exhibited higher levels of sensitivity, reported an increase in secure attachment behaviors in their foster children, and had attachment relationships comparable to biological, middle class samples. This suggests that the ABC program may be an effective tool to support the development of secure attachment relationships in foster families.