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Understanding Dad™ is a parenting program designed to help mothers recognize the importance of fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives and improve the relationships they have with their children’s father. Understanding Dad aims to support the growth of self-aware and communicative mothers by helping mothers improve their knowledge, behaviors and skills for the well-being of their children. Facilitators deliver Understanding Dad in a small group setting. Understanding Dad covers eight topics including: (1) what it means to be a mom, (2) my father’s impact, (3) my mother’s impact, (4) me and my children’s father, (5) the impact of the mother and father’s relationship on their children, (6) patterns of communication, (7) safe communication, and (8) how to listen. Over the course of the program, each mother completes activities in a “Mother’s Handbook” and identifies specific behaviors they can implement.
Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) is an individual therapy program designed for children ages 5–15 experiencing ADTC challenges and their parents or caregivers. MATCH-ADTC aims to increase child and parent skills to manage the child’s mental health and reduce their symptoms. MATCH-ADTC has 33 therapeutic modules across the four possible primary focus areas (anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, and conduct problems), representing 18 distinct practice areas. Each module includes step-by-step instructions, activities, and resources. Therapists select and deliver modules over multiple therapy sessions. To organize individualized treatment plans, therapists use flowcharts that suggest a narrow selection of modules aligned with the primary focus area and the child’s specific needs. Therapists may add modules from different focus areas to address any co-occurring concerns. At each session, therapists assess progress towards completing each module’s goals.Children and parents complete practice assignments between sessions.
Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is a collaborative decision-making process designed to support families with children ages 0–17 who are involved in the child welfare system. FGDM uses a family group meeting to create and implement a child safety and care plan. FGDM seeks to convene an extended family group consisting of parents, primary caregivers, individuals with kinship and other connections to the child or parent, the child whenever possible, and service providers with family consent to attend. FGDM uses a four-phase process involving (1) program referral, (2) preparation for the meeting, (3) the meeting itself, and (4) the implementation of the plan. First, in the referral phase, child welfare agency staff and an FGDM coordinator who is not involved in the case reach out to the parents or primary caregivers and help the family decide if they would like to participate in FGDM.
Parents for Parents (P4P) is a mentoring and education program designed for parents involved in the child welfare system. To participate, parents must have a child who is at risk of removal or has been removed from the home by Child Protective Services. Parents who participate in P4P receive support from other parents (referred to as Parent Allies) who have successfully navigated the child welfare system in the past. Parent Allies connect with parents at the child’s initial placement hearing with the juvenile dependency court and provide ongoing resources and support with the goal of helping the parent navigate the child welfare system. Overall, the P4P program aims to increase the rate of safe and prompt reunifications, stabilize families, increase parents’ hope, and decrease trauma while parents are involved in the child welfare system.
Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Infant (ABC-I) is designed to help caregivers of children ages 6–24 months who have experienced early adversity. ABC-I aims to promote responsive caregiving to help infants develop secure, organized attachments and self-regulation capabilities. ABC-I is provided by skilled clinicians, called parent coaches. Coaching sessions include in-the-moment and video feedback to foster the caregiver’s abilities to follow the infant’s lead, respond to infant’s distress in nurturing ways, and recognize and reduce frightening behaviors.
The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) is a behavioral intervention that aims to support adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders. The treatment aims to support adolescents’ substance use recovery by encouraging positive family and peer relationships and helping adolescents engage in prosocial activities. A-CRA includes guidelines for three types of sessions: adolescents alone, caregivers alone, and adolescents and caregivers together. In accordance with the adolescent’s needs and self-assessment of happiness in multiple life areas, A-CRA sessions typically focus on increasing engagement in pre-recovery activities, developing problem-solving, communication, and other important skills with the goal of improving life satisfaction and eliminating alcohol and substance use problems. As part of these sessions, clinicians and participants mutually agree on homework assignments to practice and review skill development.
Celebrating Families!TM (CF!) is a program designed for families with children ages 4–18 in which at least one parent has problematic substance use and is at risk of engaging in domestic violence, child abuse, or child neglect. CF! aims to break the cycle of addiction in families, improve participants’ healthy living skills, and increase children’s well-being and functioning. CF! was originally designed to support families in Family Drug Treatment Courts and to increase rates of family reunification but has since expanded to serve families in the community as well. The program seeks to provide a safe, nurturing place for children and parents to explore their feelings and choices and to learn communication and coping skills. The curriculum engages every member of the family and aims to foster the development of healthy and addiction-free individuals. A separate Spanish language manual, Celebrando Familias!, is available. This adaptation contains the same overall structure and format as the English-language version with modifications to examples and content to increase the cultural relevance of the program.
Criando con Amor: Promoviendo Armonía y Superación – Jóvenes (CAPAS-Youth) is a group-based parenting and family functioning intervention adapted from GenerationPMTO – Group, also known as Parenting Through Change (PTC) and formerly known as Parent Management Training – Oregon Model (PMTO®). CAPAS-Youth is a culturally adapted intervention for Spanish-speaking Latino(a) families with children ages 12–15. Adaptations include: (1) Modifying core components of GenerationPMTO – Group for linguistic and cultural appropriateness, (2) Adapting session activities (e.g., role-play practice) to include culturally relevant expressions, and (3) Adding sessions focusing on racism, contextual adversity, discrimination, immigration, cultural conflicts, and adolescent drug use.
The Family Check-Up® model is a brief, strengths-based intervention for families with children ages 2 through 17. The intervention aims to improve parenting skills and family management practices, with the goals of improving a range of emotional, behavioral and academic child outcomes. The Family Check-Up® consists of three main components: (1) an initial interview that involves rapport building and motivational interviewing to explore parental strengths and challenges related to parenting and the family context; (2) an ecological family assessment that includes parent and child questionnaires, a teacher questionnaire for children that are in school, and a videotaped observation of family interactions; and (3) tailored feedback that involves reviewing assessment results and discussing follow-up service options for the family. Follow-up services may include clinical or support services in the community. They may also include the Everyday Parenting program, which is a parenting management program that is typically delivered by the provider.
The Iowa Parent Partner Approach pairs “Parent Partners” with parents whose children have been removed from the home. It also pairs Parent Partners with parents who can only reside with their children under special conditions set by the courts. Parent Partners are parents who were formerly involved with the child welfare system and who have achieved reunification with their children. They are selected based upon their interpersonal skills, successes, and proven ability to overcome obstacles. To be eligible, Parent Partners must have maintained reunification with their children for at least 1 year. Parent Partners mentor eligible families by providing social support, offering guidance on how to navigate the process of reunification, and working with social workers and other professionals to ensure the family is getting needed resources. The goal is to support reunification and reduce recurrence of child maltreatment.