ABSTRACT
After birth, babies and children grow and develop against the backdrop of regular family life. In ordinary circumstances, babies begin to acquire a rudimentary sense of time very early on. For many fostered and adopted children, the conditions for developing a sense of time are often not present. Many children who end up being taken into care have been neglected for very long periods of time—left unfed, unwashed, and forgotten. Many have early lives characterized by erratic and unpredictable parenting; many have their sense of security severely damaged by early experiences of emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse. The consequences of this kind of start in life are disastrous. In addition to missing out on the experience of regularity so central to ordinary development, there is often also limited opportunity for the sorting out of feelings and impulses associated with particular stages in a child’s life.
