South African social workers' knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in foster care supervision

Abstract

Despite the prominence of attachment theory in international foster care literature and the importance of attachment relationships in successful foster care, attachment theory and practices do not feature prominently in South African foster care research. Against this backdrop, we interviewed twenty South African social workers' about their knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in their own foster care work. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews. We found that the social workers had limited knowledge of attachment theory and interventions; experienced most biological parents as unmotivated to improve their circumstances and attachment relationships with children; indicated that family reunifications were rare occurrences; reported foster parents were mostly kin; and experienced constraining contextual factors that hindered optimal consideration of attachment relationships in foster care supervision. • South African social workers' knowledge of attachment theory. • Their perceptions of attachment relationships in foster care supervision. • They had limited knowledge of attachment theory and interventions. • Constraining factors hindered optimal consideration of attachment relationships.