Anna's story: a qualitative analysis of an at-risk mother's experience in an attachment-based foster care program.

This study chronicles an at-risk mother's experience in an alternative foster care program. Influenced by attachment theory, the Children's Ark reunited children with their mothers in a supervised home environment while also providing residential support, intensive therapy, and education. After losing custody of her infant Kindra, 18-year-old Anna participated in the Ark for 2 years, after which she regained custody of Kindra. We assessed Anna and Kindra at multiple times using a variety of instruments, including a semi-structured interview, the Adult Attachment Interview, and the Strange Situation procedure. Anna moved from a profoundly insecure state of mind to a secure one, while Kindra moved from a resistant to a secure attachment. Qualitative analyses of Anna's interviews documented growth in her capacity to use the important relationships at the Ark as secure bases and to welcome rather than fear intimacy with Kindra. The qualitative analyses also described growth in Anna's capacities for reflective functioning and positive changes in her internal working model. We conclude with an analysis of the process of change from the perspective of attachment theory.

Observing mother-child relationships across generations: boundary patterns, attachment, and the transmission of caregiving.

Grounded in both attachment and family systems theories, this study is one of the first to examine how relationship patterns observed in mothers' current relationships with their own mothers are recreated in their relationships with their infants. Mostly white, middle-class families (N = 55), including maternal grandmothers, mothers, and infants, were observed when infants were 6, 9, and 18 months old. At 6 months, mothers and grandmothers completed self-report assessments and worked together on discussion tasks. These interactions were coded using the Boundary Assessment Coding System, developed for the present study, which assessed three relational patterns: disengagement, balance, and entanglement. At 9 months, mothers were rated on sensitivity and intrusiveness while playing with and feeding their infants; and, at 18 months, infant-mother attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation. Multiple regression analyses revealed, as predicted, that mothers who remembered being accepted by their mothers as children and who were in highly balanced relationships with their own mothers currently were more sensitive and less intrusive with their 9-month-old infants. Further, discriminant function analyses indicated that memories of acceptance, high levels of balance, and low levels of disengagement differentiated secure from insecure attachment, whereas memories of overprotection and high levels of entanglement distinguished resistant from secure and avoidant attachment. Discussion focuses on the theoretical hypothesis that mothers internalize relationship strategies experienced with their own caregivers and recreate these patterns with their infants.