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American Bowlby. This highlights a few important
contributors to the topic and to attachment theory.

ATTACHMENT AND FAMILY LAW

There has been plenty of discussion in the literature
about attachment as it relates to family law. The
Family Court Review (2011) put out a special issue:
Attachment Theory, Separation and Divorce: Forging
Coherent Understandings for Family Law. In this issue,
McIntosh (2011) interviewed a number of leading
experts in the area of attachment (from the
Bowlby/Ainsworth tradition) and took on the
overwhelming challenge of the search for consistent
meanings related to attachment theory and
separation and divorce. She invited the experts to talk
about the complexities of applying current knowledge
in attachment to family law disputes. It is suggested
that family law practitioners take the time to read the
2011 journal articles where some of the most current,
well-known researchers and authors in the field of
attachment answer questions in relation to decision-
making in family law. In the summary of the expert
opinions post interviews, McIntosh offered the
following for consideration:
1. For the first two years of life children should
be with a primary attachment figure while
being supported to regularly be around the
secondary attachment figure. A primary figure
does not mean a “better” figure.
2. The first two years of life, when the emotional
right brain circuits are critically forming, is
most important to minimize stressors. By 3-4