The development of the concept of time in fostered and adopted children

Summary — English:

Canham explores how experiences of separation, loss, and disrupted continuity can affect the development of a sense of time in fostered and adopted children. He suggests that difficulties in experiencing past, present, and future may be related to early disruptions in relationships and the absence of a reliable, continuous caregiving environment. For some children, time can become experienced as fragmented, unpredictable, or difficult to represent psychologically, rather than as a continuous developmental process. Changes in carers, placements, holidays, and separations may therefore reactivate earlier experiences of loss and uncertainty. The therapeutic relationship can provide a more continuous temporal experience, helping the child gradually develop a greater sense of continuity, sequence, anticipation, and psychological history.