Importanţa suportului social în prevenirea abandonului copilului şi rolul în menţinerea diadei mamă-copil [The Importance of Social Support in the Prevention of Child Abandonment and the Role in Maintaining Parent-Child Dyad]

Romania still faces the leaving children phenomenon in the different hospital units, and in some cases the original abandonment is followed by the institutionalization. The target group of the qualitative research consists from parent-child couples who were residents in maternal center, which is designed to prevent abandonment. The attachment formed between mother and baby, during the first months of life, sets out the relationship between the dyad members and contributes to maintaining the mother-infant couple. When the first few months of life are spent in the maternal centre, then mother-child couple receives material and moral support, which facilitates the formation of attachment between mother and child, but the parent-child couple, requires the support of relatives or other institutions, after de residency. The study aims to identify the role played by the social support members in the mother-child life, subsequent to the period of residence in maternal centre. The conclusion of the study is that the role of the moral and material support offered to mother-child couple, is essential in helping the young mother in the risk of child abandonment, to assume parental role and facilitates the formation of attachment so that she can become a secure base for her child.

Keywords: attachment, child abandonment, Maternal Centre, social support