ABSTRACT
A high proportion of infants born into homelessness have ghosts in their nurseries with disrupted attachments and mental health problems. One in four families becomes homeless because of family breakdown, 63% experience domestic violence, and mental health problems are eight times more common (Crisis, 2006). In addition the temporary nature and crowded living conditions of a hostel are likely to exacerbate the ordinary destabilising effects of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period for the parents. Such internal psychic experiences combine with external realities to suggest that these infants have increased vulnerability to relational trauma.
