Reassessing Attachment Theory in Child Welfare / / Sue White, Matthew Gibson, David Wastell, Patricia Walsh.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol UP/Policy Press Complete eBook-Package 2019
• VerfasserIn: White, Sue,; Gibson, Matthew,; Wastell, David,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (152 p.)

This book offers an analysis and summary of the uses, abuses and limitations of attachment theory in contemporary child welfare practice. Analysing the primary science and drawing on the authors’ original empirical work, the book shows how attachment theory can distort and influence decision-making. It argues that the dominant view of attachment theory may promote a problematic diagnostic mindset, whilst undervaluing the enduring relationships between children and adults. The book concludes that attachment theory can still play an important role in child welfare practice, but the balance of the research agenda needs a radical shift towards a sophisticated understanding of the realities of human experience to inform ethical practice.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of figures, table and box -- About the authors -- Acknowledgements -- Preface: becoming attached to attachment theory -- Love is a wondrous state: origins and early debates -- Social work and the attachment story: a felicitous bond? -- Shaping practice: prescribing assessment -- Practising attachment theory in child welfare -- Exhibiting disorganised attachment: not even wrong? -- Breaking the back of love: attachment goes neuro-molecular -- Coda: love reawakened? -- References -- Index