Among many health-related and developmental challenges that orphans and abandoned children (OAC) face is insecure attachment, which serves as the biopsychosocial trigger for mental health disorders, neurological deficiencies and abnormalities, delinquency and criminal behavior, suicidal ideation, and unhealthy dependencies upon their romantic partners and peers. It has even been discovered that orphans are 500 times more likely to commit suicide. The dangers of insecure attachment are compounded by malnutrition, physical abuse, and the unfavorable environment in which many OAC live for the first 7 years of their lives, also said to be the most crucial period for development. While swift placement into a family unit is instrumental in OAC’s restoration of proper health and development, research shows that secure attachment following placement is the greatest factor in the recovery of OAC’s mental, social, and emotional health and development.
Seeing as the establishment of secure attachment lies in the hands of the adoptive parents and the home environment that they create for their child, I figured that directing my genre remediation project toward them would be the best way to ensure secure attachment for former OAC. Although my remix is geared towards adoptive parents and families, it can be beneficial for non-adoptive families, as insecure attachment is not an issue exclusive to OAC, but also plagues 40 percent of American children. By focusing on repairing and improving the parent-child relationship that is the foundation for building secure attachment, the remix can be effective in its goal to encourage behaviors and conversations that lead to secure attachment.
Shallow Waters, Lowest Level of “Abyssal Adventures”
Given the nature of my new audience, I decided to create a question-and-answer card game designed primarily for adoptive families to foster bonding and hopefully secure attachment. While other forms of media—such as an infographic or social media post—might have been somewhat effective in informing the public about the harmful nature of insecure attachment, especially as it relates to OAC, I felt that a card game would be the best option. I wanted to represent the information from my DIAC in a fun, light-hearted way that could move beyond an informative piece and extend into solving the issue of insecure attachment in OAC. Unlike more competitive card games like Cards Against Humanity or UNO, my card game is inspired by tamer relatives including Do You Really Know Your Family? and other genre-adjacent couples’ games. Such card games adopt a question-and-answer format and don’t have point systems, which takes away the incentive but introduces an arguably more important quality of bonding and interaction. Some researchers even believe that board games and card games target the third stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—love and belonging—and make it easier to build positive relationships with their family and peers. Although children and adolescents (especially those that are younger) may find an incentivized card game to be more exciting, I believe that the game design itself serves as a calmer alternative for explicit motivation tactics by simply encouraging players to “swim deeper”.
Deep Waters; Middle Level of “Abyssal Adventures”
During the creation process, I found it challenging to generate age-appropriate and fun, yet deep, questions that would both target traits and behaviors related to secure attachment and seek out any areas that need improvement. Culturally, there is also a battle between individualistic and collectivist attitudes that are present in Western versus Eastern cultures. I wanted any family to be able to pick up this game and start a quality conversation with their child—no matter their age, geographical location, or attachment style. However, it was difficult to formulate a list of questions that was general enough to be applicable to anyone and specific enough to serve as an effective conversational tool for fostering secure attachment. Moreover, with this subgenre of a card game, the issue of lack of incentive is evident, but could not be avoided because it is counterintuitive to the goal of the game.
Jaws, Highest Level of “Abyssal Adventures”
To arrive at my finished product, I did some external research on ways to improve secure attachment and found that developing emotion regulation, trust, healthy boundaries, emotional intelligence, and identity is crucial for doing so. Additionally, I researched different types of card games ranging in maturity level and intended setting to discover what would be the best subgenre to mimic for my card game. While creating the questions, the “water level” concept came to me and I kept it, hoping that it would add character to the game and deeper motivation for the players. Overall, I would say the strongest parts of my project are its structure, design, and concept; the question is on the front and the trait or behavior that it is trying to encourage is on the back, and the color of the card corresponds to the water level. Abyssal Adventures, however, is not a game that many people would enjoy playing casually and might be reserved for times of deeper conversation and introspection. Players may fear or dread the deeper water levels, but they have an opportunity to return to shallow waters any time they please. Just as people learning how to swim are not pushed into the deep end right away, the adoptive families who are trying to develop secure attachment are not forced to answer the deepest questions first, but are expected to slowly work their way to the deep end.
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