This paper investigates the value and meaning of the use of play and how it influences the relationship in the therapeutic alliance. It follows the progress of a homeless African-American child from the age of 27 months to 48 months, as she is given the opportunity to form a human attachment through the use of psychoanalytic theory and via the vehicle of play. This paper integrates the work of psychoanalytic theorists such Freud, A. Freud, Mahler, Winnicott, Bowlby, Greenspan, Stern, and Fonagy. The child's story is illustrated through the use of documented history as told by the mother to the therapist and through clinical material of the child's therapeutic sessions.