[Attachment and identity of adoptive children]

At first the development of the mother-child-attachment is discussed on the basis of the theories of Bowlby and Ainsworth. A study by one of the Dutch authors (Juffer) is described, in which the quality of the attachment was assessed in 90 foreign adoptions and in which a positive impact of interventions (booklet, discussion of videotapes) on the quality of the attachment was found. Then the relationship between adoptees and their biological parents is discussed. The consequences of the "double parenthood" for the identity development of adopted children is described.