Child Custody Evaluations, Attachment Theory, and an Attachment Measure: the Science Remains Limited

Emery otto, and O'Donohue (2005) diseussed the foundations of non-attachment-related child custody evaluations • (CCEs) and concluded that they had a limited scientific basis. Other authors (e.g., Isaacs, George, & Marvin 2009) have suggested the possibility of using attaehment theory and attachment measures for CCE purposes Thi¡ pape reviews cnt.c.sms of attaehment theory and research and discusses specific concerns about the use of an attachment measure, the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP), for CCE work. The scientific support for this practice is qiiite weak as there is no clear rationale for deriving a custody arrangement from a SSP result. CCE methods are in fact interventions and should be, but have not been, studied for their efficacy in producing desirable outcomes, rather than indirectly through the study of psychometric properties. Thus, it appears that the use of attachment-related assessments provides no improvement in the scientific foundation of child custody evaluation.