Abstract
Many children who experience serious adversity with their birth family have to be placed in family-based alternatives, such as foster care, or adoption. Caregivers and parents are then expected to show these children nurturing patterns of relating to others through affectionate and stimulating interactions. These are essential for establishing positive bonds within new families. In the present study, we explored the adult-child interactions that took place in 116 families from Spain: 28 long-term non-kin foster families, 34 adoptive families, and a community comparison group made up of 54 families. The interactions between the child and the main caregiver were explored with a micro-analytic approach, which examined in detail the exchange of verbal and non-verbal behaviours in each dyad while they were performing a joint construction task. We sought to analyse these interactions by focusing on the adults’ use of some behaviours that are known to promote a secure attachment. We also aimed to examine the adults’ performances between the different groups. Results revealed that parents and caregivers in every group generally displayed a wide range of attachment-facilitating behaviours. They tended to do this in a consistent and coherent way, developing an interaction pattern that promotes their bonding with the child. Contrasts between the groups indicated that foster and adoptive families showed significant differences in relation to the comparison group, as their use of attachment-facilitating behaviours was higher than that of the community dyads. Given the importance of security, belonging and commitment as key factors in the success of family-based care, implications for interventions regarding the quality of adult-child interactions will be discussed.