Attachment and adoption by Stéphanie Habersaat
2008 Winner : Attachment and adoption
Psychologist and research manager, currently reading for a PhD in Psychology at the University of Lausanne, Stéphanie Habersaat is writing her thesis on the future of children adopted in their teenage years, within the framework of a study coordinated by the universities of Lausanne, Dijon and Quebec.
The issue is to have a better understanding of the future of these 32,000 children adopted in the world every year (following a geographical move). Stéphanie Habersaat notably stresses the notion of attachment, that is to say « a human being’s capacity to emotionally attach themselves to someone else, which in part results from the way the child’s referent (parent) was emotionally involved with him or her in the first months of life ». Indeed, she goes on to explain: « the child internalises this « model » relationship and generalises it ».
This research can then lead to practical applications in three different areas: the orphan’s conditions of life, the foster family’s attitude and adoption procedures.
