Abstract
Americans have increasingly turned to international adoption (IA) as an alternative way to build a family. Unfortunately, IA families are often being developed under conditions of loss, and sometimes these families struggle to form healthy attachments to each other. Disordered attachment (the failure to form a reciprocal, loving bond between parent and child) can occur, and can have devastating consequences. In some instances, IA children have been relinquished into state foster care systems; other families simply struggle for years caring for a developmentally delayed child who appears to have no emotion for his/her adoptive family. Nurses are likely to have contact with IA families and can use their education about attachment and bonding to help facilitate attachment in these developing families. Swanson's caring theory provides a clinically useful guide to meet this need.