So many great comments here - from many viewpoints: legal, psychological, medical, etc.

Clearly not a simple answer....

One point that I wanted to make, and I think Heather was alluding at it, is that babies THRIVE when in close attachment with a caretaker...even if the caretaker is there and then is gone.  They have then learned trust and can learn to trust again.

The American viewpoint of the bonding is of a child to ONE mother-figure, ONE father-figure, etc...  This is not the reality in most of the world, where children are raised in multigenerational homes, with many caretakers who are loving and consistent in their loving care for the child.  I would then see the foster mother as part of this continuum of care, and not one who would "bond and then leave" the child making them feel abandoned.  

My own life experience was with many loving people of many generations as an infant and child (so much so, that my "caretakers" kept dying of old age...but I learned that this is life...).  

We need to be careful, just like in co-bedding and other black-white issues that we don't impose our own western cultural biases, thereby depriving a child of what could/would be normal and supportive during their most vulnerable time.  

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
California, USA

PS - However, knowing the US Legal System, and as an IBCLC, I would never encourage a foster mother to breastfeed "under the radar" - instead provide education and information and hope to achieve change...if not for THIS situation - for the future!

  

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