an attachment-focused and trauma-informed approach
CHILDREN IN CARE
Building Bridges offers a specialist psychology service to children who are in the care of the Local Authority, including foster or residential care. Children in care have frequently experienced repeated trauma, abuse and neglect. This can lead to attachment difficulties, complex behaviour and heightened emotional needs, which impacts on all areas of their development, including family life, school and peer relationships.
We recognise that these children have unique needs that require a specialist approach which is attachment focused and trauma informed.
We offer the following services to Children in Care:
O1.
Comprehensive assessments of children’s emotional and psychological needs to inform placement planning and identify appropriate therapeutic support.
O2.
One-to-one support to foster carers - to help develop an understanding of the child’s needs or difficulties and strategies to manage them.
O3.
Attachment-focused therapies to promote the attachment between foster carers and children (including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy).
O4.
Life Story Work with children who have complex care histories. This may involve one-to-one work with the child, support to parents/carers to produce an age-appropriate life story book, or consultation to parents/carers to develop ways in which they can talk to their child about their background histories.
O5.
Consultation to social workers, residential care staff and other professionals, providing a psychologically informed perspective for their work.
O6.
Training to foster carers, residential staff, social workers and other professionals on issues such as attachment focused parenting approaches (such as PACE), impact of attachment difficulties on behaviour and relational functioning, etc.
