Attachment theory has had a profound influence on our understanding of human relationships. This paper focuses on the application of the DynamicMaturational Model of attachment to children involved in care and family proceedings. It describes the central principles of attachment as developed by Ainsworth et al. (1978); Bowlby (1969); Crittenden (2008) and Main (1999). Attachment patterns are explored and the circumstances under which these various engagement strategies arise. The authors provide two case examples of different insecure attachment styles. They include brief background information, observations about clinical presentation and formulation sections, offering the reader an opportunity to integrate their thinking about how different insecure attachment styles necessitate alternative intervention approaches. The paper highlights the complexity of assessing attachment in different circumstances, and the authors propose that this article should be viewed as a 'primer' for helping practitioners to take better account of attachment issues whenever undertaking assessments within the context of child and family proceedings.
This article describes how contemporary attachment theory can support accurate assessment and effective intervention in criminal justice contexts. I offer an introduction to Crittenden’s Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) of Attachment and Adaptation and explain why this well-evidenced model is especially relevant to criminal justice interventions. The DMM is a biopsychosocial model, informed by neurodevelopmental research, and as such it offers a developmental understanding of the wide range of adaptations used by people who are endangered or endangering to others. It is a strengths-based, non-labelling and non-pathologising model which conceptualises adaptations to danger as self-protective strategies that promote survival in their original context, but which may later lead to problematic, dangerous, or self-defeating behaviour.
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