Pioneered by the British psychiatrist John Bowlby and American psychologist Mary Ainsworth, 'Attachment Styles' are patterns of behaving that often arise from childhood and affect how we access support and intimacy both from those close and people in general. They can change over our lifetimes as our 'internal working models'  such as levels of trust change. Attachment is at the heart of family life and at the heart of foster care and adoption. Attachment theory and research provide a helpful developmental framework for making sense of the behaviour and relationship strengths and difficulties that children bring from their complex backgrounds

The standardised research tool Attachment Style Interview (ASI) for adult attachment has long been used in adoption, fostering and child protection services. A five-day online ASI training is offered for adoption and fostering practitioners and agencies and includes the accreditation of a pilot ASI interview.                      

Parenting Role Interview (PRI)

The Parenting Role Interview (PRI)  is an assessment tool for social care and clinical services working with families. Its purpose is to question about parent’s or carer’s attitudes and behaviour to determine competence in their parenting role. It assesses a parents'  own view of that role, and compares this with a more objective assessment based on examples of behaviour. It covers child difficulties; interaction between parent and child/ren and competence in providing care, affection, and control. PRI provides an evidence base of current  strengths and weaknesses in parenting and allows for an indication of the parent’s insight into their own parenting. The two day training includes the accreditation of a pilot PRI interview.