The thinking behind Paws & Connect
Paws & Connect is grounded in an interdisciplinary evidence base examining adolescent development, relationships, attachment, social connection, human–animal relationships, caregiving and animal welfare.
The following resources provide a deeper examination of the theoretical and empirical foundations informing our practice.
1. Paws & Connect Foundational Framework
A comprehensive document outlining our philosophy, theory of change, practice framework, evidence base, evaluation approach and governance. (103 pages, 2.3 MB)
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2. Relationship Matching: Theoretical & Empirical Foundations
An in-depth examination of the principles underpinning thoughtful matching.
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3. Why Rescue Animals?
Exploration of the rationale for partnering with rescue organisations and animals.
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4. Theoretical and empirical evidence supporting Paws & Connect Theory of Change propositions
The literature reviewed in this section draws from several related fields, including developmental psychology, attachment, resilience, human–animal interaction, animal welfare and placement research.
Much of this evidence supports the theoretical rationale for Paws & Connect rather than directly testing this specific model. Accordingly, the propositions below are treated as evidence-informed hypotheses and pathways to be evaluated, not as established causal effects of Paws & Connect.
Where evidence is associative, context-specific or drawn from a different intervention model, this distinction is retained.