ABSTRACT
This chapter is a small introduction on attachment with a reading list at the end. Understanding how we are shaped, how we develop and what the best circumstances are for building human resilience within that attachment dance, should in theory weave through policy. It is prudent that any discussion about attachment is rooted in our understanding of inequity; economic, educational and health inequalities and structural racism that all shape and form our capacities, our opportunities and what we can access. Bowlby's theory of 'maternal deprivation' brought to the fore the view that babies need the adult and the community into which they arrive and that disrupted attachments in early life have an impact upon how we develop. By placing attachment theory at the heart of work with children (developing), young people (still very much developing) and families (living and playing out early experiences of attachment relationships), it offers us a means of understanding early childhood development through a relational lens.
