| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Healthy Families |
birth – 5
Overburdened families who are at-risk for child abuse and neglect and other adverse childhood experiences; families are determined eligible for services once they are screened and/or assessed for the presence of factors that could contribute to increased risk for child maltreatment or other poor childhood outcomes. |
Medium |
HFA is a home visiting program model designed to work with overburdened families who are at-risk for child abuse and neglect and other adverse childhood experiences. It is designed to work with families who may have histories of trauma, intimate partner violence, mental health issues, and/or substance abuse issues. HFA services are offered voluntarily, intensively, and over the long-term (3 to 5 years after the birth of the baby).
HFA is theoretically rooted in the belief that early, nurturing relationships are the foundation for life-long, healthy development. Building upon attachment, bio-ecological systems theories, and the tenets of trauma-informed care, interactions between direct service providers and families are relationship-based; designed to promote positive parent-child relationships and healthy attachment; strengths-based; family-centered; culturally sensitive; and reflective. |
| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Nurse Family Partnership |
birth-5
First-time, low-income mothers (no previous live births) |
Medium |
The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program provides home visits by registered nurses to first-time, low-income mothers, beginning during pregnancy and continuing through the child’s second birthday. |
| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Triple P |
For parents and caregivers of children from birth to age 16 |
Medium |
System Triple P helps parents learn strategies that promote social competence and self-regulation in children. Parents become better equipped to handle the stress of everyday child rearing and children become better able to respond positively to their individual developmental challenges. As an early intervention, System Triple P can assist families in greater distress by working with parents of children who are experiencing moderate to severe behavior problems. Throughout the program, parents are encouraged to develop a parenting plan that makes use of a variety of System Triple P strategies and tools. System Triple P practitioners are trained, therefore, to work with parents’ strengths and to provide a supportive, non-judgmental environment where a parent can continually improve their parenting skills. |
| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Parents as Teachers |
Families with an expectant mother or parents of children up to kindergarten entry |
Medium |
Parents as Teachers is an early childhood parent education, family support, and school readiness home visiting model based on the premise that “all children will learn, grow, and develop to realize their full potential.” Based on theories of human ecology, empowerment, self-efficacy, attribution, and developmental parenting. Parents as Teachers involves the training and certification of parent educators who work with families using a comprehensive curriculum. Parent educators work with parents to strengthen protective factors and ensure that young children are healthy, safe, and ready to learn. |
| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) |
Families with children younger than 6 years old in high-risk populations such as child enrolled in Early Head Start, teen moms, or parents with irritable babies |
Medium |
The COS-P protocol presents Circle of Security content in eight chapters using a manual for the provider, handouts for the parents, and a DVD that explains and shows examples of all concepts presented. The facilitator stops at designated moments and asks reflective questions to participants. The core concepts of the program are:
- The caregiver serves as a secure base from which the child can explore and as a safe haven to which the child can return for connection in times of stress
- Some parents feel uncomfortable/threatened by their child’s exploration (moving away), whereas others have these negative feelings instead in response to their child’s attachment wishes (bids for connection)
- Given that a child thrives when the caregiver is relatively responsive to both attachment and exploratory behavior, it is important that the caregiver develop the reflective capacity to consider what may hinder or help her/his capacity to respond.
|
| Evidence-Based Parenting |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Nurturing Parenting for Parents of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers |
birth-5
Families who had been reported to the child welfare system for child maltreatment including physical and emotional maltreatment in addition to child neglect; may be used as a court-ordered parenting program |
High |
The Nurturing Parenting Program for Parents and their Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers is a family-centered program designed for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. Both parents and their children birth to five years participate in home-based, group-based, or combination group-based and home-based program models. Lessons are competency-based ensuring parental learning and mastery of skills.
The program lessons focus on remediating five parenting patterns known to form the basis of maltreatment:
- Having inappropriate developmental expectations of children
- Demonstrating a consistent lack of empathy towards meeting children’s needs
- Expressing a strong belief in the use of corporal punishment and utilizing spanking as their principle means of discipline
- Reversing the role responsibilities of parents and children so that children learn to become the caregivers to their parents
- Oppressing the power and independence of children by demanding strict obedience to their commands
|
| Evidence- Based Clinical |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) |
2-17
Children and adolescents who have experienced trauma; research has been conducted on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic stress, phobias, and other mental health disorders |
Medium |
EMDR therapy is an 8-phase psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the symptoms of trauma. During the EMDR trauma processing phases, guided by standardized procedures, the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses that include the client’s beliefs, emotions, and body sensations associated with the traumatic event while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist directed bilateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus, but a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio bilateral stimulation are often used. |
| Evidence-Based Clinical |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) |
Children ages 2-7 with behavior and parent-child relationship problems; may be conducted with parents, foster parents, or other caretakers |
Medium |
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a dyadic behavioral intervention for children (ages 2.0 – 7.0 years) and their parents or caregivers that focuses on decreasing externalizing child behavior problems (e.g., defiance, aggression), increasing child social skills and cooperation, and improving the parent-child attachment relationship. It teaches parents traditional play-therapy skills to use as social reinforcers of positive child behavior and traditional behavior management skills to decrease negative child behavior. Parents are taught and practice these skills with their child in a playroom while coached by a therapist. The coaching provides parents with immediate feedback on their use of the new parenting skills, which enables them to apply the skills correctly and master them rapidly. PCIT is time-unlimited; families remain in treatment until parents have demonstrated mastery of the treatment skills and rate their child’s behavior as within normal limits on a standardized measure of child behavior. Therefore treatment length varies but averages about 14 weeks, with hour-long weekly sessions. |
| Evidence-Based Clinical |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) |
Children age birth-5, who have experienced a trauma, and their caregivers |
High |
CPP is a treatment for trauma-exposed children aged 0-5. Typically, the child is seen with his or her primary caregiver, and the dyad is the unit of treatment. CPP examines how the trauma and the caregivers’ relational history affect the caregiver-child relationship and the child’s developmental trajectory. A central goal is to support and strengthen the caregiver-child relationship as a vehicle for restoring and protecting the child’s mental health. Treatment also focuses on contextual factors that may affect the caregiver-child relationship (e.g., culture and socioeconomic and immigration related stressors). Targets of the intervention include caregivers’ and children’s maladaptive representations of themselves and each other and interactions and behaviors that interfere with the child’s mental health. Over the course of treatment, caregiver and child are guided to create a joint narrative of the psychological traumatic event and identify and address traumatic triggers that generate dysregulated behaviors and affect. |
| Evidence-Based Clinical |
| Name |
Target Population |
Child Welfare Relevance |
Description |
| Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) |
3-18
Children with a known trauma history who are experiencing significant Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, whether or not they meet full diagnostic criteria. In addition, children with depression, anxiety, and/or shame related to their traumatic exposure. Children experiencing Childhood Traumatic Grief can also benefit from the treatment. |
High |
TF-CBT is a conjoint child and parent psychotherapy model for children who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties related to traumatic life events. It is a components-based hybrid treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles. |
