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

Attachment Theory (AT) has played a central role in how parents and their relationship with their children are assessed. It impacts the placement of children, decisions of the courts and long-term planning for the child. These are amongst the conclusions of this slim volume that challenges the conversation regarding the linkages between the theory and child welfare practice. The authors illustrate that the AT phenomenon is not unique to the UK but has impacts throughout the Western world. The authors start the reader off on a journey of re-evaluation of AT by laying out the foundations, belief structures, ecological context and methods through which it was developed. The opening chapter is vital to all practitioners linking AT to a time and place, particularly England, when family was intellectually and socially constructed with a ‘synthesis of object relations theory and ethological development psychology’ (p. 2). The authors take us through the...

Attachment theory · Context (archaeology) · Conversation · Object (grammar) · Political science · Sociology · Welfare · White (mutation) · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child Welfare and Adoption · Communication · History · Law · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology