Title: 
Headings: 

Content: Human bonding refers to the development of a close interpersonal relationship between family members or friends. A History of Bonding Definitions | Adoption in Child Time
Skip to main content
    
Adoption in Child Time
Toggle navigation
Main navigation
Home
About Us
Attachment Book (2014)
Bonding Book (2010)
Foster Parent Journal
Contact Us
Links
Bonding and the Case for Permanence
What Everyone Needs to Know about Bonding
A History of Bonding Definitions
Human bonding refers to the development of a close interpersonal relationship between family members or friends. The term is from the 12th century Middle English word band, which refers to something that binds, ties, or restrains. In early usage, a bondsman, bondswoman, or bondservant was a feudal serf that was obligated to work for his or her lord without pay. Today a bondsman is a person who provides a bond or surety for someone. Children form attachments to adults who regularly meet their physical and emotional needs regardless of biological relationship. Goldstein et al (1973) developed standards to identify this person, the psychological parent, the one to whom the child appears to have most firmly bonded. Goldstein and his co-authors believed that, in the child’s best interests, the psychological parent should be allowed to become the primary and permanent caregiver. “Obligations to stepparents, who fill the position of parents, and stepchildren, who fill the position of children, are higher than to more distant blood kin.” ( Rossi et al, 1990)  Proximity and living together are a more important connection than that of distant blood relatives.