Attachment and reflective functioning in child welfare assessment: a mixed methods study

Foster, Sarah Louise (2023) Attachment and reflective functioning in child welfare assessment: a mixed methods study. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the relevance of attachment theory to child welfare assessment practice.

Concerns have been raised regarding possible misunderstandings and misuses of attachment theory in child welfare practice, but there has been limited empirical investigation of this. Study A explored the role of ideas about attachment in the thinking of social workers when conducting an initial assessment of family cases with child welfare concerns. Semi-structured interviews, including discussion of family case vignettes, were conducted with 23 UK-based child and family social workers. Findings indicated that understanding and use of attachment theory in UK child welfare assessment practice is considerably more varied than previously proposed. The findings imply that ideas from attachment theory have further potential to enhance social workers’ understanding of families, and suggest changes to social work education.

Practitioners’ attachment states of mind on the Adult Attachment Interview have been found to have multiple implications for professional practice, but there has been very little research on implications for child welfare practice specifically. Study B examined the relationship between practitioners’ attachment states of mind and aspects of their thinking when conducting an initial assessment of family cases with child welfare concerns. The study did not find that practitioners’ (N = 61) attachment states of mind predicted differences in their case risk ratings. However, the practitioners’ attachment coherence of mind was found to be positively associated (r = .38) with their capacity to attend to the mental experiences of family case members (their reflective functioning).

Taken as a whole, the research suggests that attachment theory has considerable relevance to child welfare assessment practice. The theory can be applied by practitioners to inform their understanding of the children and families they work with. The theory can also help to explain some differences in the ways practitioners think about children and families.

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