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- Title
The perceived utility value of two attachment measures in care and contact recommendations by family counsellors: A pilot study.
- Authors
Keyser, San-Marie; Ryke, Elizabeth (Elma) H.
- Abstract
Currently, in the South-African context, more than 52% of divorces involve children. This reality created a need for family counsellors to mediate and inform the court on the best interest of affected children concerning care and contact decisions post-divorce. The Family Advocates offices do not currently use validated attachment measures to determine caregiver-child attachment. The lack of validated attachment measures in care and contact recommendations is a concern since research indicates that the better the attachment with a caregiver, the better the post-divorce adaption of the children. This study explored the perceived utility value of two attachment measures (Parental Bonding Instrument and Child-Parent Relationship scale) in care and contact recommendations of family counsellors. Family counsellors received training in using these two measures as part of their care and contact assessments in addition to following their usual assessment protocol. Data-collection entailed semi-structured qualitative interviews with the family counsellors about their opinions and experiences of the value of these measures in making recommendations about the care and contact of children. This study has the potential to inform the current practice of the family counsellors in order to add evidence- based measures to their assessment protocols for care and contact recommendations. Evidence-based assessments carry a more prominent weight as evidence in court, making recommendations more credible. The establishment of the utility value of using attachment measures in care and contact assessments may offer an initial exploration of using such measures in the local practice context.
- Subjects
PARENT-child relationships; COUNSELORS; TRAINING of counselors; PILOT projects; CHILDREN of divorced parents; FAMILY counselors
- Publication
Child Abuse Research in South Africa, 2020, Vol 21, Issue 2, p61
- ISSN
1562-1383
- Publication type
Article