Deprivation

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James Roberston

Studies of children in brief separation-

Roberston used a camera to record his observations of daily life in a hospital ward focusing on a two year old girl (Laura) who was admitted to hospital for an eight day stay. Laura alternated between being calm and distressed. She is visited occasionally by her parents and begs to go home; as time goes on she has to cope with having to stay.

A second study of a child, John, was placed in a residential nursery for nine days whilst his mother was having a baby. His father visited regularly. John behaved normally at first, but after a few days this changes as he tries to get attention from the nurses, unable to compete with the more assertive children. When John fails to find any response to him he finds comfort in an oversized teddy. Over the next few days he breaks down and refuses to eat, drink, cries a lot, stops playing and stops trying to get the nurses attention. There is no constant care as the nurses change shift regularly. In the first week he greets his father enthusiastically but by the second week he just sits quietly when his father is there and doesn't say anything.On the ninth day his mother comes to collect him and he screamed and struggled to get away from her. For many months after he continued to have outbursts of anger towards his mother.

Maintaining the emotional bond-

Robertson and Robertson-

Studied Jane, Lucy, Kate and Thomas who were all under the the ages of three years and placed in foster care for a few weeks with the Roberstons while their mothers were in hospital. The Robertsons aimed to sustain high levels of a substitute for their usual emotional care and keep routines similar to those at home. Their father's visits were arranged regularly to maintain the emotional links to their home.

Kate was unhappy at first until she was taken to see her mother in hospital and became much more happy afterwards. All the children seemed to settle in well to their foster homes. They expressed some signs of distress, for example, Thomas rejected attempts to cuddle him but in general they slept well and did not reject their mothers when reunited. Some were reluctant to part with the foster mother demonstrating the formation of good emotional bonds.