Admissibility of attachment theory, research and assessments in child custody decision‐making? Yes and No!

Forslund, Tommie; Hammarlund, Mårten; Granqvist, Pehr

doi:10.1002/cad.20447

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Although this meta-analysis drew upon the considerable breadth of research conducted on the role of caregiver sensitivity for child attachment, there remains a discernable lack of tools for assessing caregiver sensitivity in community agencies and clinical practice. In fact, the lack of validated tools for use in community practice has been highlighted as one of the major challenges facing the research-to-practice gap in the field of attachment (Cicchetti & Toth, 2006; Forslund et al, 2021). The translation of research measures of sensitivity to clinical practice is certainly a challenging task, as these measures are time consuming to learn and administer and would require adaptation for practice contexts and demonstrated value compared to assessment-as-usual (Forslund et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, the lack of validated tools for use in community practice has been highlighted as one of the major challenges facing the research-to-practice gap in the field of attachment (Cicchetti & Toth, 2006; Forslund et al, 2021). The translation of research measures of sensitivity to clinical practice is certainly a challenging task, as these measures are time consuming to learn and administer and would require adaptation for practice contexts and demonstrated value compared to assessment-as-usual (Forslund et al, 2021). Nonetheless, it has been recommended that “assessments of the caregiver’s capacity to provide a safe haven for the children when alarmed is more valuable … than information about the child’s attachment classification per se, especially when provision of more effective caregiving is the key concern” (Forslund et al, 2021, p. 34).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the interest and eagerness among practitioners for such measures, a fruitful approach to this endeavor may be to co-construct and co-develop research initiatives with practitioners to shrink the research-to-practice gap more effectively (Racine et al, 2022). Indeed, it has been suggested that to find innovative solutions for real-world problems, it is often necessary to step outside the academic silo by partnering with community organizations to promote bidirectional and sustainable flows of knowledge, with both practitioners and researchers contributing their specific skills and knowledge base (Forslund et al, 2021; Racine et al, 2022; Skipper & Pepler, 2021; Van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2021). Such flows of knowledge also have great potential to shape the agenda for future methodological and theoretical innovations (Schuengel et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Maternal and paternal sensitivity: Key determinants of child attachment security examined through meta-analysis.

Madigan,

Deneault,

Duschinsky

et al. 2024

Psychological Bulletin

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for conducting the literature search for this project. Codebooks and scripts relevant to this submission can be found at https://osf.io/372g6/. Sheri Madigan and Audrey-Ann Deneault share first authorship. Sheri Madigan played a lead role in conceptualization, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, and writing-original draft and a supporting role in data curation. Audrey-Ann Deneault played a lead role in formal analysis and visualization, a supporting role in writing-original draft and writing-review and editing, and an equal role in data curation. Robbie Duschinsky played a supporting role in conceptualization and writing-review and editing. Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg played a supporting role in conceptualization and writing-review and editing. Carlo Schuengel played a supporting role continued

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Maternal and paternal sensitivity: Key determinants of child attachment security examined through meta-analysis.

Madigan,

Deneault,

Duschinsky

et al. 2024

Psychological Bulletin

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“…properly with the Adult Attachment Interview (Forslund, Hammarlund, & Granqvist, 2021). Thus, the recommendation to exclude applicants based on factors such as attachment, education, or adverse childhood experiences, as well-intended as it might be, is likely to result in rejection of carers who would have functioned perfectly well as foster parents.…”

Section: Second Concern: Inadequate Focus On Exclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The New Kälvesten Method for the Assessment of Foster Parent Suitability in Sweden: Causes for Concern

Willén¹,

Kronkvist²

2022

Preprint

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Background: Prospective foster carers undergo an assessment of their suitability. The two most common assessment methods in Sweden are the Original Kälvesten (OK) and the New Kälvesten (NK). None of them have been empirically tested. The present study offers the first scholarly insights into the NK method.Methods: We were graciously allowed access from the founders to documentation of the method, including complete educational materials aimed at social workers (e. g., >8 hours recorded lectures). These materials were analysed qualitatively in a data-driven fashion with the purpose of describing and reviewing the NK method. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders and educators to supplement the materials. In addition, 268 websites of licensed Swedish agencies conducting assessments of prospective foster carers were screened for mentioning of which interview method they use.Results: The interview protocol primarily aimed at measuring attachment style (38%) and attachment and affects (17%); 10% was claimed to measure affects; 10% mentalisation; 24% were not connected to any outcome measure. We found that NK, just like the OK interview, prohibits recording of the interviews. Instead were interviewers instructed to transcribe interviews verbatim in real time. The transcript was read back to the analyst in a role play fashion during which the analyst conducted a quick linguistic analysis resulting in a binary yes/no decision on suitability. Of 268 agencies, 114 named an interview method: 51% reported use of NK; 44% Kälvesten; 4% Casey Home Assessment Protocol – Fostering Challenges. Conclusions: The NK method was found to be unethical in at least six ways: applicants were exposed to deliberate stress evocation; they were rejected when risk factors occurred without considering protective factors; they were not provided adequate feedback; interview outcome was unsuitable for linguistic analysis; high risk of interviewer and analyst biases; the method can be described as pseudoscientific. Recommendations for future research and practice are made.

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“…Forslund et al. (2021) discuss how attachment theory and research in general, and attachment networks in particular, may inform courts’ decision‐making on child custody. Using Faigman et al.’s (2014) admissibility criteria for scientific evidence and testimony, the authors argue that findings on attachment networks, should be admissible as framework evidence and conceptual guidelines (though not as a diagnostic testimony) in child custody settings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment networks to multiple caregivers: An introduction to a special issue

Dagan

Sagi‐Schwartz

IJzendoorn

2021

New Drctns Chld & Adlscnt

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This special issue aims to bolster important research that has been inconsistently and rather scarcely conducted in the past 35 years: the role that multiple caregivers jointly play in the developmental trajectories of children. Despite theoretically and empirically driven calls to assess children's development through the lenses of simultaneous and independent attachment relationships (van IJzendoorn & Tavecchio et al., 1987;van IJzendoorn et al., 1992), attachment research has predominantly focused on mother-child relationships, deeming other caretakers, at best, as subsidiary attachment figures with a marginal influence on the child's development. This special issue aims to expand on the topic by providing historical, ethological, cross-cultural, clinical, methodological, and legal perspectives on the matter.This special issue opens with a review paper by Dagan and Sagi-Schwartz ( 2021), who briefly present an historical account of the nonlinear shift in attachment theory and research, from a wide interest in assessing almost exclusively mother-child attachment relationships, to assessing father-child attachment patterns, and leading up to the current increase in interest and empirical work on attachment network to multiple caregivers. The authors also revisit their recent proposed attachment network assessment models (Dagan & Sagi-Schwartz, 2018, 2020. Karaskiewicz et al. (2021) present an ethological study on the network of attachment in mother-father-infant titi monkey (Plecturocebus cupreus) triads. The authors assessed the change in pair bonding quality before and after the couples' first offspring birth. They show that affiliation between the parents significantly decreased after birth of the first offspring and stayed relatively low even after infants' transition to behavioral independence, with multiple factors contributing to variability in such pair bonding trajectories. Importantly, Karaskiewicz and colleagues highlight a unique perspective on how new members of the attachment network (i.e., newborns) can influence the relationship quality between its existing members (e.g., mothers and fathers).The meta-analysis by Deneault et al. (2021) quantifies the associations between fatherchild attachment and behavior problems across 15 studies. The authors report two intriguing results. The first is that insecure child-father attachment is significantly associated with higher internalizing and externalizing behavior problems compared with secure dyads. The second surprising finding revealed that the effect sizes for insecure child-father attachment are equivalent to those reported in previous meta-analyses on child-mother attachment in relation to behavior problems.The individual participant data meta-analysis by expands on Deneault and colleagues' study-level meta-analysis by examining the associations between attachment networks to mothers and fathers and behavior problems. This study indicates

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Admissibility of attachment theory, research and assessments in child custody decision‐making? Yes and No!

Cited by 5 publications

References 71 publications

Maternal and paternal sensitivity: Key determinants of child attachment security examined through meta-analysis.

Maternal and paternal sensitivity: Key determinants of child attachment security examined through meta-analysis.

The New Kälvesten Method for the Assessment of Foster Parent Suitability in Sweden: Causes for Concern

Attachment networks to multiple caregivers: An introduction to a special issue

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