diff --git a/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/src/javascript/print.ts b/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/src/javascript/print.ts
index 75afd8c8d9..57f2f4c2a6 100644
--- a/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/src/javascript/print.ts
+++ b/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/src/javascript/print.ts
@@ -1767,7 +1767,7 @@ export class JavaScriptPrinter extends JavaScriptVisitor<PrintOutputCapture> {
         return cursor;
     }
 
-    private async afterSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture) {
+    protected async afterSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture) {
         await this.afterSyntaxMarkers(j.markers, p);
     }
 
@@ -1777,7 +1777,7 @@ export class JavaScriptPrinter extends JavaScriptVisitor<PrintOutputCapture> {
         }
     }
 
-    private async beforeSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture) {
+    protected async beforeSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture) {
         await this.beforeSyntaxExt(j.prefix, j.markers, p);
     }
 
diff --git a/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/test/javascript/whitespace-attachment.test.ts b/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/test/javascript/whitespace-attachment.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1301b0ad6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rewrite-javascript/rewrite/test/javascript/whitespace-attachment.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 the original author or authors.
+ * <p>
+ * Licensed under the Moderne Source Available License (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * <p>
+ * https://docs.moderne.io/licensing/moderne-source-available-license
+ * <p>
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+import {JavaScriptParser} from "../../src/javascript";
+import {JavaScriptPrinter} from "../../src/javascript/print";
+import {MarkerPrinter, PrintOutputCapture} from "../../src/print";
+import {J} from "../../src/java";
+import {Tree} from "../../src/tree";
+
+function prettifyKind(kind: string): string {
+    const match = kind.match(/\.([A-Z]+)\$(.+)$/);
+    if (match) {
+        return `${match[1]}.${match[2]}`;
+    }
+    return kind;
+}
+
+
+class OutputNode {
+    constructor(
+        public readonly element: Tree,
+        public readonly children: (OutputNode | string)[] = []
+    ) {}
+
+    addChild(child: OutputNode | string): void {
+        this.children.push(child);
+    }
+
+    toString(): string {
+        const childrenStr = this.children.map(child => {
+            if (typeof child === 'string') {
+                return "Text(" + child + ")";
+            } else {
+                return child.toString();
+            }
+        }).join(', ');
+
+        return `${prettifyKind(this.element.kind)}{${childrenStr}}`;
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Custom PrintOutputCapture that builds a tree structure instead of a flat string
+ */
+class TreeStructurePrintOutputCapture extends PrintOutputCapture {
+    public rootNodes: OutputNode[] = [];
+    private nodeStack: OutputNode[] = [];
+
+    constructor(markerPrinter: MarkerPrinter = MarkerPrinter.DEFAULT) {
+        super(markerPrinter);
+    }
+
+    startNode(element: Tree): void {
+        const node = new OutputNode(element);
+
+        if (this.nodeStack.length > 0) {
+            // Add to parent's children
+            this.nodeStack[this.nodeStack.length - 1].addChild(node);
+        } else {
+            // This is a root node
+            this.rootNodes.push(node);
+        }
+
+        this.nodeStack.push(node);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Called when visiting ends for an LST element (afterSyntax)
+     */
+    endNode(): void {
+        this.nodeStack.pop();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Override append to add string content to the current node
+     */
+    override append(text: string | undefined): PrintOutputCapture {
+        if (text && text.length > 0) {
+            if (this.nodeStack.length > 0) {
+                this.nodeStack[this.nodeStack.length - 1].addChild(text);
+            }
+            super.append(text);
+        }
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the tree structure as a formatted string
+     */
+    getTreeStructure(): string {
+        return this.rootNodes.map(node => node.toString()).join('\n');
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Custom JavaScriptPrinter that uses TreeStructurePrintOutputCapture
+ */
+class TreeCapturingJavaScriptPrinter extends JavaScriptPrinter {
+    protected override async beforeSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture): Promise<void> {
+        if (p instanceof TreeStructurePrintOutputCapture) {
+            p.startNode(j);
+        }
+        await super['beforeSyntax'](j, p);
+    }
+
+    protected override async afterSyntax(j: J, p: PrintOutputCapture): Promise<void> {
+        await super['afterSyntax'](j, p);
+        if (p instanceof TreeStructurePrintOutputCapture) {
+            p.endNode();
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+function findWhitespaceViolations(rootNodes: OutputNode[]): string[] {
+    const violations: string[] = [];
+
+    function checkNode(node: OutputNode, path: string = 'root'): void {
+        if (node.children.length > 0) {
+            const firstChild = node.children[0];
+
+            // Check if first child is a node (not text)
+            if (firstChild instanceof OutputNode) {
+                // Check if the grandchild exists and is text with non-empty whitespace
+                if (firstChild.children.length > 0) {
+                    const grandchild = firstChild.children[0];
+                    if (typeof grandchild === 'string' && grandchild.trim() === '' && grandchild.length > 0) {
+                        const parentKind = prettifyKind(node.element.kind);
+                        const childKind = prettifyKind(firstChild.element.kind);
+                        violations.push(`${parentKind} has child ${childKind} starting with whitespace |${grandchild}|. The whitespace should rather be attached to ${parentKind}.`);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Recursively check all child nodes
+        node.children.forEach((child, index) => {
+            if (child instanceof OutputNode) {
+                checkNode(child, `${path}[${index}]`);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    rootNodes.forEach((node, index) => {
+        checkNode(node, `root[${index}]`);
+    });
+
+    return violations;
+}
+
+describe('whitespace attachment', () => {
+    test('simple variable declaration', async () => {
+        // given
+        const parser = new JavaScriptParser();
+        const sourceCode = "const c =  function(): number { return 116; };";
+        const cu = await (await parser.parse({text: sourceCode, sourcePath: 'test.ts'}).next()).value;
+        const capture = new TreeStructurePrintOutputCapture(MarkerPrinter.SANITIZED);
+        const printer = new TreeCapturingJavaScriptPrinter();
+
+        // when
+        await printer.visit(cu, capture);
+
+        // then
+        const violations = findWhitespaceViolations(capture.rootNodes);
+        expect(violations).toEqual([]);
+    });
+});