Implications of research into Day Care.

Due to the research psychologists have completed into attachment and day care, we are now very aware of what constitutes as good quality care and how this should be provided.

Attachment Research:

Hospital Practices - Robertson and Robertson showed that the negative effects of emotional disruption could be avoided if substitute emotional care was provided as well as links with existing attachment figures. This research led to major changes in the visiting arrangements for parents with children in hospital. It also affected institutional care of children, for example in foster homes.

Child Adoptions - Bowlby's research led to changes in adoption protocols. In the past, morthers who were going to give their child up for adoption were encouraged to nurse the baby for a significant tim. By the time the baby was adopted, the 'sensitive period' for attachment formation may have passed, making it difficult to form attachments with the adoptive parents. Today, due to the research Bowlby did into the sensitive period, most babies are adopted within the first week of birth, and research shows that adoptive mothers and their children are just as securely attached as no adoptive familied.

Improving the quality of parenting - Emotional deprivation or privation may occur even when no separation has occured as in the case of…