**Attachment Theory in the Assessment and Promotion of Parental Competency in Child Protection Cases**

Chantal Cyr, Karine Dubois-Comtois, Geneviève Michel, Caroline Poulin, Katherine Pascuzzo, Valérie Losier, Marilyne Dumais, Diane St-Laurent and Ellen Moss

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48771

## **1. Introduction**

62 Child Abuse and Neglect – A Multidimensional Approach

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Maltreatment is a complex problem affecting the lives of thousands of families and children. In fact, not only is maltreatment a major societal issue carrying substantial socio-economic costs in relation to medical and social allowances, but it also has devastating effects on child development. There is thus a pressing need to better understand the dysfunctional interactions occurring between abusive/neglecting parents and their children in order to improve evaluation and intervention strategies with these families. In the past few years, attachment theory has provided a solid foundation for understanding the risk and resiliency factors involved in the development of maltreated children and guided the development of assessment and intervention protocols for this at-risk population. Attachment theory and related empirical studies thus provide relevant knowledge about the processes through which maltreatment may negatively impact child development, as well as the clinical applications and best-suited practices for this population.

According to the ecological-transactional perspective child attachment is an important protective factor for the development of children with a history of abuse and neglect [1]. More precisely, this perspective [2]sustains that maltreated children's adaptation is affected by several systemic levels, some closer to the child such as the system including family relationships, and others more distal, such as the community and cultural values systems. Though the ecological-transactional model acknowledges the influence of different systemic levels, systems closest to the child are considered has having the greatest impact on child development. Problematic and dysfunctional parent-child interactions, which are characteristic of families subject to maltreatment, have a more direct effect on child

© 2012 Cyr et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

development than more distant variables such as poverty or parents' psychological state of mind. Therefore, based on this model, parent-child interactions and child attachment to parent act as relational mediating processes between distal systemic variables and child adaptation, and thus become primary interventional targets for promoting child development.

Attachment Theory in the Assessment and Promotion of Parental Competency in Child Protection Cases 65

will be inclined to seek parental proximity in stressful situations to regulate emotions and organize behaviors and, once comforted, to use their parental figure as a secure base from

Alternatively, an insensitive parent, who misinterprets or fails to respond to child signals, encourages the development of insecure child attachment patterns. More specifically, following repeated experiences with a rejecting or distant parent, the child is more inclined to develop an insecure-avoidant attachment pattern, characterized by the minimization of distress signals and proximity-seeking behaviors in order to suppress the activation of negative emotions, which are difficult for the parent to manage. In response to more inconsistent parental behaviors (sometimes sensitive, sometimes insensitive), the child is likely to develop an insecure-ambivalent attachment pattern. This attachment pattern is characterized by an exaggeration of distress signals and proximity-seeking behaviors by the child towards the attachment figure in order to maximize chances of receiving parental comfort. However, resistant behaviors with respect to physical contact and parental comfort are also characteristic of this attachment pattern, resulting from the child's anger towards the parents' inconsistency. While the distress of avoidant and ambivalent children may not be adequately appeased, these children still manage to develop an attachment strategy that organizes behaviors and emotions towards the attachment figure in situations

*Parental frightening/frightened behavior or extreme insensitivity and disorganized child attachment* 

While some children with an insecure attachment develop organized strategies to access the attachment figure when distressed, others show a breakdown of attachment strategies or fail to develop coherent approach strategies to gain access to the parent. In the presence of their attachment figure, these children exhibit confused and disoriented behaviors, and may even display frightened facial expressions or body postures. This particular group of children are identified as presenting insecure disorganized attachment behaviors. Recent studies have shown that mothers who demonstrate frightening or frightened behaviors during interactions with their child (e.g. intense withdrawal, hostility, momentary state of dissociation, facial expression of fear, hypervigilance, predatory behavior, sexualized or deferential) are likely to promote the development of insecure disorganized attachment behaviors in their children [8-10]. At the communication level, research has also showed that mothers of disorganized preschooler tend to utter frightening remarks and ridicule their child [11]. As Hesse [12] stated, children showing disorganized attachment behaviors are caught in an unsolvable paradox: their potential source of comfort is also their source of fear [13]. Disorganized children are therefore less likely to adequately explore their environment, for their attachment system is chronically activated by feelings of fear or apprehension

Disorganized attachment is the type of attachment most strongly linked in childhood to socio-emotional adaptation difficulties, cognitive deficits, psychopathology, low self-esteem, as well as psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood, including anxiety disorders, dissociation, and suicidal thoughts [3,15-20]. Studies have also showed that attachment

caused by the presence of their attachment figure [14].

which to explore [6].

of stress.

The objective of this chapter is to present attachment theory as a useful framework for assessing and promoting parental competency in child protection cases. In the first section of this chapter, we present key concepts of attachment theory, which are at the heart of all attachment-based clinical protocols. In the second section, the two main attachment-based intervention models are discussed: 1) the long-term model which addresses parents' representations of attachment relationships, and 2) the short-term model which uses videofeedback to modify inadequate parental behavior. In addition to describing these intervention models, this section provides a review of studies having tested the efficacy of these protocols with parents and children reported for child maltreatment. In the third and final section, we present how a short-term attachment-based intervention protocol may be used in the assessment of parental capacity in child protection cases.
