Symposium: Social Paediatrics

The quality of children’s attachments has profound and far-reaching implications, affecting all that should be acquired through dependency. Early foundations of attachment are particularly important in establishing children’s preconceptions of relationships, in giving meaning to emotions and feelings, and for regulating stress. Unsatisfactory childhood attachment is costly, affecting long-term physical and mental health, including major causes of mortality, and is an important factor underlying intergenerational parenting problems. Attachment is relevant to symptom presentation, illness behaviour, service use, and optimal paediatric care. It is an important consideration in child protection decisions and their implementation. Enabling children to achieve adequate parental attachment is the focus of work with children in care and in adoptive homes, and is a priority for every child.