Changing the Future: The Story of Attachment with a Child with Special Needs

This article, initiated by personal experience, looks at parental fear of attachment to children with conditions which put them at risk, the experiencing of grief at the loss of the “fantasy baby,” and the acceptance by the parents which enables the attachment to proceed. Reference is made to attachment issues in the case of adoption, styles of attachment, and some notion of reconstruction in therapy with 'special needs' survivors where attachment has been insecure or the process has been attenuated by length of risk.