ASI for Children's Services

Training packages are available to workers in Adoption and Fostering (ASI-AF) and Child Care (ASI-CC). The Attachment Style Interview itself is exactly the same it is only the training that differs slightly. The differences in training are that case studies and implementation discussions are geared towards adoption and fostering in those services and child care for practitioners working in that field. The ASI Interview Pack, which is used to administer and rate the measure is the same for both and called ASI Interview Pack for Adoption/Fostering and Child Care.

The ASI is an assessment tool that assesses characteristics of parents and carers in terms of their quality of close relationships, social support and security of attachment style. Originally designed in the research field, its relevance in assessment in children's services is for gauging adequacy of carer support in terms required in the ‘Preparing and assessing prospective adopters, June 2006’ DfES (link) as well as anticipating ability to access-support from services if needed in the post-placement phase. It requires training in its use (see training information).

The ASI for children's services is based on a research interview for parents used extensively in research studies to examine psycho-social risks for emotional problems. Its reliability and validity is established among researchers (including several cross cultural studies) and high levels of association are found with social factors such as poor support, low self-esteem and early adverse childhood experience. Recent research is also looking at its association with parenting. Its introduction into the adoption/field is comparatively new, with the training package finalised in the last two years. There is ongoing evaluation of its use in practice. It is an interview assessment that takes around an hour to administer and around two hours to score and write up. As with any standardised tool used in assessment, it is only one of a number of sources that need to be taken into account in making judgements about carer suitability and resilience.

The ASI relevance to Children Services is:
* As a means of predicting parents' support needs post-placement and tracking such needs over the course of crises that may arise with the placed child.
* To provide social workers in the field with a new tool in assessing adoptive parents current supportive network, quality of close relationships and relating ability to help establish their likely resilience and ability to provide a stable family context for children.
* Its origins in scientific research outside the adoption field give it a useful independence of benchmarking, which provide for transparency and credibility in generating information relevant to family functioning.

Read an article from Adoption Today magazine describing the use of ASI as a pre-adoption assessment tool.

** please note:
ASI training has recently been expanded for use by Child Care teams (in addition to Adoption and Fostering teams). The new interview itself is identical to that of the original ASI-AF but implementation issues are focused on child care practice.

This new ASI will be particularly useful in Children's Social Care because it assesses strengths, resilience and risks in individuals, the couple relationship and the support system of families of children who have been significantly harmed or who are in need. It also contributes to determining the impact of these individual and family factors (which relate to the Family and Environmental Factors domain of the Assessment Framework) on the capacity of parents to provide adequate care to meet the needs of their children i.e. their Parenting Capacity. The aim of this ASI will therefore be to form a crucial part in information gathering, analysis and planning outcome-focused interventions in the context of safeguarding children and supporting children in need and their families. The ASI is one of a range of assessment tools developed to assist professionals in making standardised, evidence-based assessments of children and their families.

Both ASI-AF and ASI-CC training course will enable practitioners to administer and reliably score the ASI, an interview which assesses characteristics of parents and carers in terms of their quality of marriage, social support and attachment style. The ASI is one of the few attachment style interviews which has a transparent method of questioning and scoring to assess both secure and insecure relating styles. The ASI does not assess parenting or the parents' own early experience.

The ASI training was developed by Professor Antonia Bifulco and her team at the Lifespan Research Group, Royal Holloway, University of London. Liza Bingley-Miller, National Training Co-ordinator for Child & Family Training and her team of trainers now undertake all ASI-AF and ASI-CC training in the UK.

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ASI-AF and ASI-CC Training Information

All ASI-AF and ASI-CC training, both for agencies and individuals on 'generics' is run by Liza Bingley-Miller and her team at Child and Family Training.

The training package for social care practitioners in the Adoption/Fostering and Child Care fields involves attendance at a 4-day training workshop to enable the reliable use of this assessment tool in practice settings. Trainings can be held on team sites or individuals can attend those centrally held in London or York. Agency-specific/team training held on team site can be arranged where required. The minimum number of trainees is 10 and maximum number of people we can train in one session is 16. 4-day ‘generic' training workshop held in Central London and York for practitioners wanting to learn to use the ASI reliably.

Additional arrangements can be made for further evaluation of the ASI in practice conditions, continued consultation and/or ‘quality control' of its use with Professor Bifulco and her team if required.

For prices and further information please contact:
for all ASI-AF and ASI-CC training (team and generics) call or email Liza Bingley Miller, National Co-ordinator, Child & Family Training.
      t 01904 633 417
      Liza.Miller@childandfamilytraining.org.uk
      www.childandfamilytraining.org.uk

Day 1: An overview of the ASI categories and rating procedures, the interview and rating system. Introduction to scoring quality of marital relationship, support and relating ability.
Day 2: Intensive training in scoring quality of marital relationship, support and relating ability. This will be aided by video and audio-taped interviews and vignettes of parents support-contexts. Introduction to assessing attachment style.
Day 3: Intensive training in assessing attachment style in terms of secure and insecure styles and those enmeshed, fearful, dismissive and withdrawn. Trainees will acquire reliable scoring of interviews and vignettes.
Day 4: Trainees will return after completion of a pilot interview to discuss rating thresholds and experiences of administering the interview in adoption/fostering or child care practice.

ASI Interview Packs available for order
(only available to order for those who have completed the full ASI 4 day training)

Both ASI-AF and ASI-CC use the same Interview Pack. Printed and bound copies of the that ASI Pack are also available for purchase for users that have completed the four day ASI training course and hold a certificate of attendance. The pack contains the scoring instructions necessary for assessing quality of support, attachment attitudes and overall attachment style. The pack is important for assessing carer characteristics and is referred to by the DfES.

Download a Word document with further information, up-to-date prices and a pack order form. (Please note that the ELECTRONIC version of ASI pack is now also available, with a year's licence for agency use - see below for details)

Electronic Attachment Style Interview pack
Due to numerous requests Lifespan have developed an electronic version of the pack utilising the latest PDF technology for convenience of use, for data sharing, and to fulfil agency demands for electronic storage of evidence-based assessment records. The PDF Acrobat format document enables the Electronic ASI to be shared amongst members of an organisation and can be re-used an indefinite number of times throughout its licence period. Download Electronic ASI flyer and for more information.
Contact us for further information.

Adoption and Fostering
Adoption Matters
Adoption NCH
Bedford Adoption Plus
Bedford Foster Plus
Bedfordshire Social Services
Berkshire Adoption Advisory Service
Bexley Council
Birmingham Social Services
Bournemouth Borough Council Social Services
Buckinghamshire Children's Services
By the Bridge
Cambridgeshire Children's Services
Camden Social Services
ChildLink Adoption Society
City of York Counci
Coventry Social Services
Derbyshire County Council
Derry Social Services Training Team
East Sussex Adoption and Permanence Team l
Essex Social Services
Family Care Ltd
Five Rivers FPS
Fostercare NCH
Greenwich Adoption Team
Halton Borough Council
Herefordshire Social Services Hull City Council Children and Families Service
Hertfordshire County Council
Hounslow Council
Hull City Council
Kent County Council
Leeds Social Services
Leicester Council
Lewisham Social Services
London Borough of Bexley
London Borough of Ealing
London Borough of Hammersmith/Fulham
London Borough of Hounslow
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Wandsworth
Medway Council
N Ireland Health Trust
Phoenix Fostering
Plymouth Adoption and Fostering teams
Poole Children and Families Services
Portsmouth City Council
Reading Borough Council
Sheffield City Council
Solihull Adoption Team
SSAFA
Staffordshire County Council - Directorate of Children, Young People and Families
Stockport Council
Suffolk Adoption Agency
Suffolk Children's Services
Surrey Adoption & Permanency Team
Surrey Fostering Teams
TACT
Wandsworth Borough Council
Wirral Borough Council

Child Care
Ealing Council
Halton Borough Council
Powys Children Services

Collaborative arrangements
BAAF
Family Futures
FAST Team, Beds County Council
Lucy Faithfull Foundation
St Christopher’s Fellowship
Surrey Adoption & Permanency

Forensic/CAMHS/other
CAMHS Gloucestershire NHS
CONNECT Service - Suffolk Mental Health
SWAAY

Very good trainers at helping us to understand the ASI and allow us to implement it .
The (knowledge gained at this) course will be helpful to me in ascertaining carers’ resilience and ability to seek help. It will enable me to know what kind of support to offer... It will be beneficial when assessing foster carers as permanent foster carers.
Even outside the formal ASI this course has given me ideas for a different direction for supervision and quality assurance of PARs.
Thank you for some very skilled and significant training
March/April 2010

The course was very clear from the outset and completely fulfilled my expectations. . .. Course trainers are clearly very knowledgeable, positive and inspiring, thank you.
The course will contribute to my greater understanding of support needs of foster carers.
As a panel member and a foster carer, this course will be relevant to both.
This will be a great tool in accessing key information and evidencing this within the PAR.
(I feel the course) should ensure greater matching success and more carefully tailored support packages... I hope it will help with counselling out unsuitable applicants, assessment and matching.
Most enjoyable training I have done in a long time with the most application uses.
October/November 2009

The course fulfilled my aims and helped me to look at ways to focus my work during assessment. It gave me a better understanding of the support people need and who they are. The trainers gave good examples, listened and helped me work through ideas. They were very approachable and encouraged discussion.
June/July 2009

Excellent course... really useful tool in terms of family placement work, well explained, good content, relevant examples. I felt the learning process was well organized, coherent and effective. Content of course (was) highly relevant to daily work, development of skill in an evidence based tool, useful for reports and court. Trainers were very effective, supportive and approachable. They provided delivery of complex material in relaxed manner conducive to learning.
(I found ASI tool) very relevant to assessments of parenting and planning re possible intervention. In assessments that are particularly difficult, this tool could help move work on. I now have a greater awareness of how a person’s attachment style can impact upon a child’s placement, issues to be aware of. It’s refreshing to have such specific input and a new practical tool to inform practice
March/April 2009

Thoroughly enjoyed the course, the best training I have ever had (I’ve had lots), thank you!
A credit to (the trainer) that she was able to maintain a high level of content and involvement throughout the day, best course I have been on in years.
Excellent, interesting and informative cause, well presented by course presenter.
(The trainers) were very experienced, right balance of friendly presentation and keeping focus on serious aspects of the content. The course was very encouraging, enabling.
February/March 2009

Training has been excellent and has met my expectations above which were based on prior knowledge and reading. The trainer was excellent and communicated positively with the group – very well motivated and enthusiastic with obvious sound knowledge of the subject.
November 2006

The course was very well designed with ample opportunities for discussion, and allowing the group to work at a steady pace. The workshop leader was very helpful and explained some complicated things clearly. On the whole it was very interesting and stimulating.
An interesting model with a lot to get through but worked through logically and clearly. Lots of practice offered to consolidate learning. Small group facilities open discussion and questions.
February 2006

Thought provoking but enjoyable. Feels as if it will prove a particularly effective tool for use in its entirety or in parts in many areas of my work.
Very interesting course. Could see it being useful for Post Adoption Support as it would identify areas where help is needed at the time of need. Would also use the ASI within adopted adults counselling – to ascertain the support they would need to the type of attachment they have. Many thanks.
January 2006

I have both enjoyed this training as well as being challenged intellectually and emotionally. The ASI is something I will use in my practice as well as a continuing learning where I will look closely at the importance of Attachment Theory. This training has enhanced both my knowledge base as well as the decision making that am having to do. Thank you.
June 2005

Very interesting course. I haven’t had to think so much for sometime. I enjoyed having my brain stimulated in a different way! It is good the way it all came together as quite confused after the 1st day. Structure very helpful in guiding me through to an understanding. Many thanks.
November 2004

Comments on use of ASI-AF in practice

Certain questions have elicited useful information for example asking people for actual evidence of confiding (rather than relying on generalisations).

I undertake attachment style interviews as the first step of the assessment for prospective foster carers and adopters and use it systematically. The ASI-AF provides our agency with an additional tool in assessing prospective cares and adopters. It helps social workers recognise both weakness factors and resources in regards to carer’s ability to manager and function under stressful situations. Its use is definitely optimised if undertaken at the first stage of the assessment. It offers a deep understanding of the applicants’ attitudes and feelings and of their close supportive relationships.

It has offered great insight into a carers’ attachment style, more so than the BAAF Form F alone.

(ASI-AF has offered) More comprehensive insight into individual functioning, and has provided a theoretical basis by which we can explain a carers approach to the care of a child. This has helped to provide or recommend the most suitable package of support. Objective and tangible model rather than being subjective and swayed by interviewees’ style.

The ASI measure adult attachment style in relation to a person's ability to access and utilise social support. As such it belongs to the ‘social psychology' strand of investigation of attachment style. The ASI provides a categorisation of attachment style for individuals, as well as assesses their specific support context and quality of close relationships. The resulting attachment profile not only determines which style best characterises them (e.g. Secure, Enmeshed, Fearful, Angry-dismissive or Withdrawn), but also the extent to which the insecure styles are dysfunctional in terms of whether the person is ‘Markedly', ‘Moderately' or ‘Mildly' Insecure. This is important, given evidence that ‘Mildly Insecure' styles carry less risk of mental health problems.

Does the ASI measure parenting behaviour?

It should be stressed that the ASI does not assess parenting behaviour. However, the measure has been shown to predict depression and marital/partner problems, which are correlated with parenting problems. Highly insecure attachment styles also relate to low self-esteem, conflictful or distant relationships and adverse childhood experience. The ASIs role in the adoption/fostering process is primarily to aid in the identification of both vulnerability and resilience factors in carers in order to promote the latter. These are framed in terms of having a suitable support network and appropriate help-seeking in crises, which will aid in keeping placements stable.

The ASI interview for adults has been used extensively in research studies to examine psycho-social risks for mental health problems. The research team at Lifespan Research Group, Royal Holloway (University of London), led by Professor Antonia Bifulco, designed the interview on the basis of extensive earlier study on support and cognitive vulnerability for depression. The team have published their research findings on community studies of mothers and their adolescent offspring, as in pregnant mothers and the postnatal period. These papers are summarised in the appendices.

The ASIs reliability and validity is established among researchers (including several cross-cultural studies) and good inter-rater agreement has been found in three different studies. This followed the training and use of a training manual which ensured that different research teams internationally could use the ASI consistently. The ASI-AF and ASI-CC training package is based on the same approach.

The ASI has been used in different age groups, in high-risk community groups, in an antenatal series and cross-culturally with consistent results in terms of increased vulnerability of those with highly insecure styles to depression. ‘Highly Insecure' attachment styles are a significant predictor of major depression and postnatal depression in women; they also relate significantly to other vulnerability factors such as low self-esteem, poor support and childhood neglect and abuse. However, there is evidence that a ‘Mildly Insecure' attachment style does not elevate risk of depression. Thus it is important to assess not only the type of attachment style, but also the degree of insecurity or relationship impairment associated with it.

A secure attachment style, in terms of the ASI, refers to good ability to make and maintain close supportive relationships. It also refers to having positive attitudes towards others in terms of trust and being able to attain closeness, being self-reliant and having low levels of anger and fear in relating to others. Prevalence figures show that just under half in a general community sample have ‘Clearly Secure' attachment style, with around a third having a ‘Mildly Insecure' attachment style and about 20% a ‘Highly Insecure' attachment style. There is no evidence, as yet, determining the proportions in adopting/fostering carers; however, a small-scale pilot study suggests similar rates. Mild levels of insecure attachment (‘Mildly Insecure') are usually categorised along with those Clearly Secure. There is no evidence that individuals with mildly insecure styles cope less well in relationships. For example, recent research analysis found that those who had bad childhood experiences but ‘Mildly Insecure' attachment were less likely to suffer from depression than those with bad childhood experiences and ‘Highly Insecure' attachment styles rated on the ASI. Thus those with Mildly Insecure styles may prove to be resilient individuals who have ‘worked through' their own childhood issues.

What is the meaning of ‘Highly Insecure' attachment style and how does it relate to early life factors?

Research studies have shown that childhood neglect/abuse, stressful pregnancy and birth experience, and marital adversity relate to ‘Highly Insecure' attachment style. In the case of childhood experience it is important to note that there is evidence that ‘Highly Insecure' attachment styles mediate the risk for depression. This means that the negative impact of childhood experience in adulthood only holds for those who continue to be troubled by Highly Insecure styles. For those individuals with an adverse childhood but secure attachment, the risk of depression is greatly reduced. It is important for social workers in this field to remember that most individuals who experience adverse childhood survive without any major problems into adulthood. However, ‘Highly Insecure' attachment style is a good marker of those who have become damaged by their early life experiences. Fearful and Angry-dismissive Highly Insecure styles are particularly related to adverse childhood experience.

Attachment style, as rated by the ASI, can change over time. One study, which researched attachment in antenatal women over the year around the birth of their baby, found that over two thirds (77%) retained the same level of security at the end of the study period. When attachment style did change it involved a move to greater security after the baby was born. In another series, examined over a three year period, around a quarter underwent major changes in level of security. People with vulnerability factors (e.g. low self esteem) were more likely to change. For example, 31% changed from ‘Clearly Secure or ‘Mildly Secure' to ‘Highly Insecure' or vice versa compared with only 17% in a lower risk group.

How can the ASI be used in different social contexts?

As with all interview measures, the ASI needs to be sensitive to the gender, cultural background, social class and age of the respondent. The ASI is intentionally flexible in the extent to which it can encompass different support settings, and its semi-structured interview nature means that the wording of questions can be adapted to the understanding and context of the carer being interviewed. The selection of support figures is intentionally broad – thus in certain cultural groups, or at certain life stages, different sorts of supportive relationships will be selected. Thus the ASI, although always asking about the partner relationship, will also cover other close support figures taken from any area of life (family of origin, partner's family, long-term friendships, recent friendships, close neighbours, etc). This means that in cultures where confiding is only accepted among family members, this can be accommodated perfectly well in the ASI. Also in cultures where active emotional support is not expected from the marital relationship (for example, arranged marriages), this can be encompassed and relevant questions about support can be attributed to other relationships.

With regard to the rating scheme, the ASI also allows for differences in expression of styles from individuals from different cultural or demographic backgrounds. Thus where the support context is good, but individuals show signs of avoidance (through Mistrust or high Self-reliance) or anxiety (through Desire for Company and Fear of Separation) in relationships, this can usually be subsumed under the ‘Mildly Insecure' categories. These do not carry additional risk of disorder outcomes, and are not taken to be contra-indications for adoption/fostering success. Thus mild levels of Enmeshed, Fearful, Angry-Dismissive or Withdrawn styles may indeed be more common among cultural groups, social classes, by gender or life stage, but do not as a result get precluded from being considered.

The ASI has been used on both men and women, on those from different cultures and ethnic and religious groups, and on people from different social classes. It has also been used on a wide range of ages from 16 through to 85. As yet there have been no contexts in which the interviewee has proved unclassifiable in attachment terms, or where the interviewee did not understand the information being covered, nor where support and support-seeking were deemed irrelevant. The flexibility of the ASI has shown its applicability to these different groups, and the relationship of highly insecure attachment style both to disorder outcomes and to adverse childhood experience have been found in all groups.

However, it should also be noted that ‘Highly Insecure' attachment style does relate to social adversity. Therefore, groups with known adversity in terms of social deprivation or exclusion are also likely to have higher rates of insecurity. Surveys of self-report attachment questionnaires in the USA have shown differences in style by age, gender, ethnicity, social class and urban versus rural location. However, the relationship of insecure style to negative childhood experience held despite such demographic variation.

Although attachment theory has been extensively applied to the adoption/fostering field, this has mainly to examine parent/child dyads in relation to internal psychological factors relating to attachment problems. The methods utilised are complex and highly specialised and are usually administered and scored by specialist psychologists. This includes the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI - George et al, 1985) which focuses on questions about the carer’s own childhood, and uses discourse analysis methods to assessed the working through of early life experience in relation to secure or insecure styles. This is used primarily for looking at concordances of carer/parent and child’s attachment styles and therefore relevant to parenting capacity rather than adult support as in the ASI. Since the two measures tap different aspects of attachment, and question about different domains, it is therefore possible to use both for an in-depth assessment.

Although a number of simpler questionnaire measures exist to assess adult attachment style in terms of inter-personal relating style, these are largely unsatisfactory in adoption contexts because of their brevity and lack of contextual information. Therefore the Attachment Style Interview provides a useful practitioner-administered assessment of attachment style in relation to supportive-contexts.

(See ASI ‘summary information’ and ‘how to interpret the ASI’ for more details).

Does the ASI have a questionnaire?

Although a number of simpler questionnaire measures exist to assess adult attachment style in terms of inter-personal relating style, these are largely unsatisfactory in adoption-fostering contexts because of their brevity and lack of contextual information. However, they may form a useful supplement to the ASI interview, particularly for repeat assessments. There is a self-report questionnaire of the ASI available which is called the Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire (VASQ). The VASQ has been developed and standardised and is being widely used as a speedy, pencil and paper assessment. It will give basic information about level of security and style, but of course cannot give the context of relationships nor behaviour in relating to close others.

Information for carers

A summary of the ASI and its characteristics in order language terms is provided:
Download the pdf here.

Read an article from Adoption Today magazine describing the use of ASI as a pre-adoption assessment tool.