Protest-despair-detachment

Many children experience short-term separations from their attachment figure during their early childhood. These may be planned, for example if the child's mother goes into hospital to have another baby, or unplanned, if the parent falls ill. Most research in this area has focused on the separation of mother and baby, although more recently research has begun to consider father and child separations.

Once children have formed their first attachment at aroung eight-nine months, they are likely to respond to separation from…