ABSTRACT

Children referred for therapy from foster homes or residential settings typically have experienced multiple placements and losses of caretaking adults. These early disruptions lead to expectations of further discontinuity and impermanence. Placed children are especially vulnerable to severe pathology because of unresolved mourning and unfavorable life conditions preexistent to subsequent placements (Samuels, 1995, p. 309). Deficits in development, restriction of cognitive capacity, and underlying depression may lead to symptomatic behavior that interferes with attachment to new caretakers. Without psychodynamic psychotherapy, placed children rarely sustain more than superficial, conflictual relationships to the outside world.