Building Secure Futures: Bonding and Attachment Support for Parents and Their Infants Affected by Substance Use

Live Conversation:  October 26, 2023 | 11 – 12:30 PT | 12 – 1:30 MT | 1 – 2:30 CT | 2 – 3:30 ET

Twenty percent of all child welfare removals in 2020 involved infants under the age of 1. Bonding and attachment in these early months are crucial to the health of the parent-infant relationship and the infant’s overall well-being. Despite this, many families involved in the child welfare system face significant disruptions to healthy relationship development. Separation, parental substance use (SU) and substance use disorders (SUD), mental health disorders, trauma histories, and the shame/stigma they encounter prevent parents and infants from establishing strong bonds and secure attachment patterns. FTC teams, often serving postpartum parents, can use their understanding of bonding and attachment to offer interventions that support and heal the parent-child relationship. This session will reorient professionals to the science of bonding and attachment while noting strategies to support the parent-infant relationship in families affected by SU/SUD.

Learning Objectives:

• Distinguish between bonding and attachment; describe parenting behaviors related to both strongly and poorly established bonds
• Analyze how parent-child separation, SU and SUD, mental health disorders, trauma, and shame can disrupt bonding and attachment
• Adopt strategies to support bonding and attachment for families affected by substance use