ON EXACTITUDE IN SCIENCE: A MAP OF THE EMPIRE THE SIZE OF THE EMPIRE

Abstract

In the service of children's best interests, we argue for a sharpening of the evidentiary standards used in family court decision making, from preponderance of (occasionally substandard) evidence to “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Second, we call for a move in child protection cases from static diagnoses (e.g., attachment classifications) to assessments of the potential for enhanced parenting. Finally, informed by the implications of the replication crisis in the biomedical and psychological sciences, we applaud the move of the attachment field forward to large-scale, collective research agendas and goals.