Parent-Child Assistance Program

Mental Health Substance Use Prevention or Treatment In-home Parent Skill-Based Does Not Currently Meet Criteria

Parent-Child Assistance Program (PCAP) is a home visiting and case management program for pregnant women and mothers with substance use disorders. PCAP aims to support and maintain recovery from substance use disorders, promote healthy families, and prevent prenatal substance exposure. To meet these aims, PCAP case managers work with clients to build independence and life skills. 

 

PCAP is designed to serve clients who are pregnant or have given birth within the past 12 months (or 24 months if program space allows), have self-reported problematic drug or alcohol use during pregnancy, and require assistance connecting to community service providers. PCAP can also serve clients who meet these three criteria: they already have a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, are still drinking, and may become pregnant again. Clients cannot be unenrolled due to noncompliance or relapse. Instead, case managers ask clients to learn from mistakes, identify triggers, and implement new behaviors.  

 

Case managers directly support and engage clients through in-home visits designed to build a trusting relationship with the client and identify their needs, goals, and strengths. For example, case managers help clients with goal setting by using a card sorting game called the “Difference Game.” In this game, clients identify the needs that would be most likely to make a difference in their lives if addressed (such as housing, transportation, or treatment) and work with their case manager to set meaningful goals and priorities for meeting these needs. Case managers also use home visits to help clients learn to create a safe home environment for their children and manage their lives independently.  

 

Case managers also work with community service providers to help families receive needed services. PCAP encourages case managers to use a team approach to working with the client and help providers in the community understand how to work more effectively with their client. To accomplish this, case managers act as liaisons to various community resources and providers, such as alcohol and drug treatment and recovery programs, legal services, family planning services, education resources, and vocational training. The case manager also coordinates and facilitates case consults across providers and can provide support with scheduling, transportation, and paperwork.  


PCAP does not currently meet criteria to receive a rating because no studies of the program achieved a rating of moderate or high on design and execution.


Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed: Nov 2023


Sources

The following sources informed the program or service description, target population, and program or service delivery and implementation information: the program or service manual, the program or service developer’s website, and the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare. 


This information does not necessarily represent the views of the program or service developers. For more information on how this program or service was reviewed, visit the Review Process page or download the Handbook.

Target Population

PCAP is designed to serve clients who are pregnant or have given birth within the past 12 months (or 24 months if program space allows), have self-reported problematic drug or alcohol use during pregnancy, and require assistance connecting to community service providers. Case managers may also enroll clients who already have a child with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, are still drinking, and may become pregnant again. 

Dosage

Case managers conduct at least two visits with clients per month over the course of 3 years. 

Location/Delivery Setting
Recommended Locations/Delivery Settings

Case managers typically deliver PCAP in the client’s home but can also deliver PCAP in the community. 

Education, Certifications and Training

Case managers are required to have a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a social service field, with four years of community-based work with high-risk populations. PCAP prefers to hire case managers who have overcome difficult life circumstances similar to those experienced by their clients (such as substance use, single parenting, and poverty). Case managers with past substance use must have been in recovery continuously for the past five years. 

Case managers receive pre-service training, ongoing in-service training, as needed in-depth training on specific topics, and an annual two-day refresher training. Ongoing in-service training includes individual supervision meetings twice monthly and weekly problem-solving meetings with fellow case managers at the PCAP site. In-depth training sessions focus on specific areas where case managers need additional training and support and can include topics such as Motivational Interviewing, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or domestic violence. 

Program or Service Documentation
Book/Manual/Available documentation used for review

Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute. (2023). Parent-Child Assistance Program (PCAP): A model of effective case management intervention with at-risk families. University of Washington, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  

Available languages

The PCAP manual is available in English. 

Other supporting materials

PCAP Overview  

PCAP Brochure 

For More Information

Website: https://pcap.psychiatry.uw.edu/ 

Phone: (206) 543‐7155  

Email: sdimmich@uw.edu   


Note: The details on Dosage; Location; Education, Certifications, and Training; Other Supporting Materials; and For More Information sections above are provided to website users for informational purposes only. This information is not exhaustive and may be subject to change.

Results of Search and Review Number of Studies Identified and Reviewed for Parent-Child Assistance Program
Identified in Search 4
Eligible for Review 1
Rated High 0
Rated Moderate 0
Rated Low 1
Reviewed Only for Risk of Harm 0

Sometimes study results are reported in more than one document, or a single document reports results from multiple studies. Studies are identified below by their Prevention Services Clearinghouse study identification numbers. To receive a rating of supported or well-supported, the favorable evidence for a program or service must have been obtained from research conducted in a usual care or practice setting.


Studies Rated Low

Study 14763

Grant, T., Ernst, C., Streissguth, A., Phipps, P., & Gendler, B. (1996). When case management isn't enough: A model of paraprofessional advocacy for drug- and alcohol-abusing mothers. Journal of Case Management, 5(1), 3-11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8715695/

Grant, T., Ernst, C., & Streissguth, A. (1999). Intervention with high-risk alcohol and drug-abusing mothers: I. Administrative strategies of the Seattle model of paraprofessional advocacy. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199901)27:1%3C1::AID-JCOP1%3E3.0.CO;2-3

Ernst, C., Grant, T., Streissguth, A., & Sampson, P. (1999). Intervention with high-risk alcohol and drug-abusing mothers: II. Three-year findings from the Seattle model of paraprofessional advocacy. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199901)27:1%3C19::AID-JCOP2%3E3.0.CO;2-K

Kartin, D., Grant, T. M., Streissguth, A. P., Sampson, P., & Ernst, C. (2002). Three-year developmental outcomes in children with prenatal alcohol and drug exposure. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 14(3), 145-153. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001577-200214030-00004

Grant, T., Ernst, C., Pagalilauan, G., & Streissguth, A. (2003). Postprogram follow-up effects of paraprofessional intervention with high-risk women who abused alcohol and drugs during pregnancy. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(3), 211–222. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.10048

Grant, T., Ernst, C., Streissguth, A., & Stark, K. (2005). Preventing alcohol and drug exposed births in Washington state: Intervention findings from three Parent-Child Assistance Program sites. American Journal of Drug & Alcohol Abuse, 31(3), 471-490. https://doi.org/10.1081/ada-200056813

This study received a low rating because baseline equivalence of the intervention and comparison groups was necessary and not demonstrated.


Studies Not Eligible for Review

Study 14766

Grant, T., Huggins, J., Connor, P., Pedersen, J. Y., Whitney, N., & Streissguth, A. (2004). A pilot community intervention for young women with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Community Mental Health Journal, 40(6), 499–511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-004-6124-6

This study is ineligible for review because it does not use an eligible study design (Study Eligibility Criterion 4.1.4).

Study 14767

Grant, T., Huggins, J., Graham, J. C., Ernst, C., Whitney, N., & Wilson, D. (2011). Maternal substance abuse and disrupted parenting: Distinguishing mothers who keep their children from those who do not. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(11), 2176–2185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.07.001

Grant, T.M., Graham, J.C., Ernst, C.C., Novick Brown, N., & Carlini, B.H. (2018). Use of marijuana and other substances among pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders: Changes in Washington State after marijuana legalization. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 79(1), 88-95. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2018.79.88

Shaw, M., Grant, T., Barbosa-Leiker, C., Fleming, S., Henley, S., & Graham, J. (2015). Intervention with substance-abusing mothers: Are there rural-urban differences? American Journal on Addictions, 24(2), 144-152. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajad.12155

Grant, T., Christopher Graham, J., Ernst, C. C., Peavy, K. M., & Brown, N. (2014). Improving pregnancy outcomes among high-risk mothers who abuse alcohol and drugs: Factors associated with subsequent exposed births. Children and Youth Services Review, 46, 11-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.07.014

This study is ineligible for review because it does not use an eligible study design (Study Eligibility Criterion 4.1.4).

Study 14771

Mills, R. M., Siever, J. E., Hicks, M., Badry, D., Tough, S. C., & Benzies, K. (2009). Child guardianship in a Canadian home visitation program for women who use substances in the perinatal period. The Canadian Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 16(1), e126–e139. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19182306/

Rasmussen, C., Kully-Martens, K., Denys, K., Badry, D., Henneveld, D., Wyper, K., & Grant, T. (2012). The effectiveness of a community-based intervention program for women at risk for giving birth to a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Community Mental Health Journal, 48(1), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-010-9342-0

This study is ineligible for review because it does not use an eligible study design (Study Eligibility Criterion 4.1.4).