Abstract
This project is the joint effort of Luz Castellanos and Manuela Meza who worked together from beginning to completion. This study promotes awareness on how to identify and assess for attachment factors possibly experienced by foster children and youth. Based on the findings of this study, professionals and former foster youth agreed there is a greater need to advocate for changes within the foster care system to increase attachment among foster youth and their caregivers. Foster youth continue to emancipate and age out of the foster care system without permanency or a support system. Twenty-six former foster youth and eleven professionals within Sacramento County participated in the study by answering survey questionnaires designed specifically for each participating group. There is a need to provide adequate and suitable training with an emphasis on attachment factors to foster care caregivers in order to make them more responsive to the child’s needs. This study recommends using a multidisciplinary approach for all the professionals and parties involved in the foster child’s life in assessing attachment factors.