The Child Attachment Relationship Guide: Informing Child Protection and Fostering Social Work

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents the novel Child Attachment Relationship (CAR) Guide for social workers in child protection and fostering. The Guide was created to promote social workers’ understandings of children’s attachment relationship and to identify the means through which those understandings might be enhanced towards their practice. The research and literature highlight a deficit in practical guidance intended to orient social workers towards attachment relationships. The guide uniquely encompasses six evidence-based dimensions intended to facilitate a deeper understanding of children’s attachment relationships. It was developed using central concepts in Attachment Theory, the key theory used in social work for explaining the child–parent relationship. The guide integrates attachment theories and approaches that are accessible, necessary, and applicable to all social workers working with children and families. The Guide was introduced to social workers in a 2-day workshop. The focus of this article is first to present the CAR Guide itself, and second to outline and assess social workers’ experiences of using the CAR Guide in their practice with children and caregivers.