Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues

Tommie Forslund^{1

2}, Pehr Granqvist¹, Marinus H van IJzendoorn³, Avi Sagi-Schwartz⁴, Danya Glaser^{5

6}, Miriam Steele⁷, Mårten Hammarlund¹, Carlo Schuengel⁸, Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg⁸, Howard Steele⁷, Phillip R Shaver⁹, Ulrike Lux¹⁰, John Simmonds¹¹, Deborah Jacobvitz¹², Ashley M Groh¹³, Kristin Bernard¹⁴, Chantal Cyr¹⁵, Nancy L Hazen¹², Sarah Foster¹⁶, Elia Psouni¹⁷, Philip A Cowan¹⁸, Carolyn Pape Cowan¹⁸, Anne Rifkin-Graboi¹⁹, David Wilkins²⁰, Blaise Pierrehumbert²¹, George M Tarabulsy²², Rodrigo A Carcamo²³, Zhengyan Wang²⁴, Xi Liang²⁴, Maria Kázmierczak²⁵, Paulina Pawlicka²⁵, Lilian Ayiro²⁶, Tamara Chansa²⁷, Francis Sichimba²⁷, Haatembo Mooya²⁷, Loyola McLean²⁸, Manuela Verissimo²⁹, Sonia Gojman-de-Millán³⁰, Marlene M Moretti³¹, Fabien Bacro³², Mikko J Peltola³³, Megan Galbally^{34

35

36}, Kiyomi Kondo-Ikemura³⁷, Kazuko Y Behrens³⁸, Stephen Scott³⁹, Andrés Fresno Rodriguez⁴⁰, Rosario Spencer⁴⁰, Germán Posada⁴¹, Rosalinda Cassibba⁴², Neus Barrantes-Vidal^{43

44

45}, Jesus Palacios⁴⁶, Lavinia Barone⁴⁷, Sheri Madigan^{48

49}, Karen Jones-Mason⁵⁰, Sophie Reijman⁵¹, Femmie Juffer⁵², R Pasco Fearon⁵³, Annie Bernier⁵⁴, Dante Cicchetti⁵⁵, Glenn I Roisman⁵⁶, Jude Cassidy⁵⁷, Heinz Kindler⁵⁸, Peter Zimmermann⁵⁹, Ruth Feldman⁶⁰, Gottfried Spangler⁶¹, Charles H Zeanah⁶², Mary Dozier⁶³, Jay Belsky⁶⁴, Michael E Lamb⁶⁵, Robbie Duschinsky⁶⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
² SUF Resource Center, Region Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.
³ Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ School of Psychological Sciences and Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
⁵ Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Psychology Department, The New School, New York, NY, USA.
⁸ Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁹ University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department Families and Family Policies, German Youth Institute, Munich, Germany.
¹¹ British Association for Adoption and Fostering at Coram (Corambaaf), London, UK.
¹² Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁵ Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁹ Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS, Agency for Science and Technology (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
²⁰ School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
²¹ University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
²² School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec City, Canada.
²³ Department of Psychology, University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
²⁴ Research Centre for Child Development, Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
²⁵ Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
²⁶ Department of Educational Psychology, Maseno University, Kisumu, Kenya.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
²⁸ Brain and Mind Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
²⁹ William James Center for Research, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal.
³⁰ Research Center of the Seminario de Sociopsicoanálisis, Mexico City, Mexico.
³¹ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
³² Faculté de Psychologie, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France.
³³ Human Information Processing Laboratory, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
³⁴ College of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia.
³⁵ School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia.
³⁶ King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Australia.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
³⁸ Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY, USA.
³⁹ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings's College London, London, UK.
⁴⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Talca, Chile.
⁴¹ Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁴² Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
⁴³ Departament de Psicologia Clínica i de la Salut, Universitat Autònoma De Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁴ Sant Pere Claver - Fundació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁵ Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁶ Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
⁴⁷ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Lab of Attachment and Parenting - LAG, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁴⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
⁴⁹ Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁵⁰ Center for Health & Community, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁵² Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁵³ Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁵⁴ Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
⁵⁵ Institute of Child Development and Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵⁶ Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
⁵⁸ German Youth Institute, Munich, Germany.
⁵⁹ Department of Psychology/Developmental Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany.
⁶⁰ Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel.
⁶¹ Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
⁶² Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁶³ Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
⁶⁴ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
⁶⁵ Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
⁶⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

PMID: 33427578
DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2020.1840762

Free article

Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues

Tommie Forslund et al. Attach Hum Dev. 2022 Feb.

Free article

. 2022 Feb;24(1):1-52.

doi: 10.1080/14616734.2020.1840762. Epub 2021 Jan 11.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
² SUF Resource Center, Region Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.
³ Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ School of Psychological Sciences and Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
⁵ Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Psychology Department, The New School, New York, NY, USA.
⁸ Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁹ University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department Families and Family Policies, German Youth Institute, Munich, Germany.
¹¹ British Association for Adoption and Fostering at Coram (Corambaaf), London, UK.
¹² Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁵ Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁹ Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS, Agency for Science and Technology (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
²⁰ School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
²¹ University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
²² School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec City, Canada.
²³ Department of Psychology, University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
²⁴ Research Centre for Child Development, Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
²⁵ Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
²⁶ Department of Educational Psychology, Maseno University, Kisumu, Kenya.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
²⁸ Brain and Mind Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
²⁹ William James Center for Research, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal.
³⁰ Research Center of the Seminario de Sociopsicoanálisis, Mexico City, Mexico.
³¹ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
³² Faculté de Psychologie, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France.
³³ Human Information Processing Laboratory, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
³⁴ College of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia.
³⁵ School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia.
³⁶ King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Australia.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
³⁸ Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY, USA.
³⁹ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings's College London, London, UK.
⁴⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Talca, Chile.
⁴¹ Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁴² Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
⁴³ Departament de Psicologia Clínica i de la Salut, Universitat Autònoma De Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁴ Sant Pere Claver - Fundació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁵ Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁶ Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
⁴⁷ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Lab of Attachment and Parenting - LAG, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁴⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
⁴⁹ Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁵⁰ Center for Health & Community, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁵² Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁵³ Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁵⁴ Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
⁵⁵ Institute of Child Development and Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵⁶ Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
⁵⁸ German Youth Institute, Munich, Germany.
⁵⁹ Department of Psychology/Developmental Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany.
⁶⁰ Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel.
⁶¹ Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
⁶² Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁶³ Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
⁶⁴ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
⁶⁵ Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
⁶⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

PMID: 33427578
DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2020.1840762

Abstract

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to child protection and child custody decision-making. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify factors that have hindered accurate implementation. In the second part, we provide recommendations for the application of attachment theory and research. To this end, we set out three attachment principles: the child's need for familiar, non-abusive caregivers; the value of continuity of good-enough care; and the benefits of networks of attachment relationships. We also discuss the suitability of assessments of attachment quality and caregiving behaviour to inform family court decision-making. We conclude that assessments of caregiver behaviour should take center stage. Although there is dissensus among us regarding the use of assessments of attachment quality to inform child custody and child-protection decisions, such assessments are currently most suitable for targeting and directing supportive interventions. Finally, we provide directions to guide future interdisciplinary research collaboration.

Keywords: Attachment theory; best interests of the child; child custody; child protection; consensus statement; family court.

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Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues

Affiliations

Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

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