Reassessing Attachment Theory in Child Welfare, Sue White, Matthew Gibson, David Wasatell and Patricia Walsh

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1641-1643
Author(s):  
Peter W Choate
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Attachment Theory

The perspective of children of hoarding parents (COHP)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-166
Author(s):  
Cecilia A. Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Programme Development ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The perspective herein is based upon the lived experience of adult Children of Hoarding Parents (COHP). The weight of parental hoarding on COHP is not derived solely from the physical adversity of living within a hoarded home but also comes with the social and psychological challenges they carry into adulthood. The view of hoarding as a family disorder with lasting impact evokes research questions including the exploration of the relationship between childhood adversity and parental hoarding, and the application of attachment theory to hoarding behaviours and family relationships. These types of research studies may lead to policy adoption and programme development for early identification of and intervention within families where parental hoarding represents a threat to child welfare.

scholarly journals Exploring dominant child protection discourses: new possibilities for practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nimo Samater
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Child Protection Workers ◽  
Emerging Themes

This research study focuses on attachment theory as a dominant discourse in child protection and the experiences of child protection workers. The literature on attachment theory and its influence on Eurocentric/Western knowledge is reviewed. As well, the use of reflective practice in child protection practice is discussed. This study includes qualitative interviews with three child protection workers in Southern Ontario who discuss their practice. Four emerging themes were derived from the narratives of the participants: recognition of attachment theory as being the pinnacle of child protection practice, use of observation as a tool to assess attachment, use of reflective practice and lastly, the stigma of Children’s Aid Society and impacts on practice. The findings in this study suggest how practice is led by policies and standards of the child welfare system and is rarely challenged. The need for the child welfare system to validate parent/child beliefs, values and practices from various ethnicities is discussed.

scholarly journals Culturally Restorative Child Welfare Practice - A Special Emphasis on Cultural Attachment Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estelle Simard
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Cultural Attachment ◽  
Attachment Strategies

A research project was implemented through the use of qualitative secondary data analysis to describe a theory of culturally restorative child welfare practice with the application of cultural attachment theory. The research documented 20 years of service practice that promoted Anisinaabe cultural identity and cultural attachment strategies, by fostering the natural cultural resiliencies that exist within the Anishaabe nation. The research brings a suggested methodology to child welfare services for First Nation children the greater the application of cultural attachment strategies the greater the response to cultural restoration processes within a First Nation community.

Practising attachment theory in child welfare

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Sue White ◽  
Matthew Gibson ◽  
David Wastell ◽  
Patricia Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Medical Opinion

This chapter discusses how attachment theory is used, or not, in professional practice and decision making. Attachment theory is now a standard subject on social work qualifying programmes and many employers provide training for their social workers in attachment theory, ensuring that most practitioners are familiar with the theory. As the discourse of attachment theory has influenced medical opinion and doctors have the power and privilege to diagnose children, a range of ‘attachment disorders’ has been created and these disorders are used to categorise children. Afforded with greater power and status, such diagnoses by medical practitioners feed into the attachment theory knowledge base of social workers, influencing and framing how social workers think about the children and families they work with. The chapter then considers Matthew Gibson's recent study, which took place in the child and family social work service in an English local authority.

Shaping practice: prescribing assessment

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Sue White ◽  
Matthew Gibson ◽  
David Wastell ◽  
Patricia Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Inconsistent Parenting ◽  
The Uk

This chapter reviews the use of attachment theory in practice guidance and child welfare policy, focusing on social work in England. In refashioning the role of social workers, the increasing social acceptance of attachment theory, and its concomitant discourse, influenced and guided the UK government's attempt to define and restructure what social work practice was. The attachment story in use offered explanations for how children become harmed by insensitive, unresponsive, and inconsistent parenting. Such ideas fed into the government's agenda for social work practice: namely to assess (needs) and refer (to services) or remove (to prevent harm). Social workers were, therefore, directed to assess parents' capacity to meet the needs of their children from the perspective of attachment theory. Ultimately, attachment theory has become institutionalised into the profession.

scholarly journals Reassessing attachment theory in child welfare

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-119
Author(s):  
Eileen Joy
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Attachment Theory

Book review

scholarly journals With Laura: Attachment and the Healing Potential of Substitute Caregivers within Cross-Cultural Child Welfare Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Denise Brend ◽  
Kara Fletcher ◽  
Jennifer Nutton
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Treatment Needs ◽  
Aboriginal Children

Secure attachment has been consistently associated with positive outcomes for children. The complex and intergenerational trauma resulting from colonialism that Aboriginal people in Canada have suffered may threaten the development of secure attachment. Using a case example drawn from social work practice, this paper proposes that Aboriginal children who are insecurely attached and traumatized present particular treatment needs. There is little prior research addressing the treatment needs of insecurely attached Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. Further, in provincial and territorial child welfare agencies Aboriginal children are overwhelmingly in the substitute care of non-Aboriginal caregivers. This paper looks to attachment theory for a treatment approach within these cross-cultural relationships. Attachment theory has shown that the attachment styles of children can be reliably predicted at a rate of 75 percent by looking to those of their caregivers. Additionally, children have been shown to be capable of developing multiple attachment styles in response to the attachment styles of the adults with whom they are in caregiving relationships. Thus, given the stronginfluence of caregiver attachment on the attachment styles of children, it is compelling to look at the potential impact of the attachment styles of substitute caregivers on the children in their care. This paper proposes that in provincial or territorial child welfare it may be necessary to promote substitute caregivers who are securely attached and to acknowledge the context of trauma within which these children and caregivers are striving for well-being.

Social work and the attachment story: a felicitous bond?

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Sue White ◽  
Matthew Gibson ◽  
David Wastell ◽  
Patricia Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
John Bowlby ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Moral Claims ◽  
Welfare Professional

This chapter examines the symbiotic relationship between child welfare professional practice, social work in particular, and the ascent of attachment theory. The development of social work had provided fertile ground for the incubation of early ideas about attachment theory, particularly in child and family social work. It was not, however, accepted as a legitimate theory simply because John Bowlby had introduced it to the profession. Rather, while the foundations were there for attachment theory to be used in practice, it was a more complex process that eventually resulted in the theory being taught on social work courses and used routinely by practitioners. Crucial in that translation was the shift in emphasis from ‘normal’, non-clinical populations to children suffering maltreatment. As the institutional logics driving social work with children and families have shifted from the provision of help to the prediction of risk, attachment theory has been a flexible companion providing enticing vocabularies to support moral claims.

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