Preventing Child
Abuse Saves $$$
Child and family
interventions are best conceptualized as a combination of strategies designed to
both improve personal competencies and enhance social supports...
E. M. Tracy and J. K. Whitaker. The Evidence Base for Social
Support Interventions in Child and Family Practice: Emerging
Issues for Research and Practice.
Children and Youth Services
Review 9:249-270, 1987.
...an infant with a fractured skull and significant brain
damage who becomes a ward of the state and in an institution for
mentally retarded will during its lifetime cost the state and
our taxpayers about three quarters of a million dollars.
That amount of money, spent before abuse occurred, could pay
for family-based services for a significant number of people.
Because we are only willing to spend money after a crisis, we end
up spending a lot more money than we need to.
Current programs for abuse situations are characterized by
intensive, costly services that aim to "fix" what has
been broken. It is clear that preventive services are a cheaper,
less intrusive, more humane solution.
Effective models of preventive service delivery for high risk
families have been demonstrated around the country. These
programs are characterized by combining school readiness
programs, family support programs, and intensive child care
resources to create an environment to empower parents.
Good Programs are
Not Hard To Find
In
South Carolina . . .
the Welcome Baby program, designed by the South Carolina
Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, offers support and education
to new parents and identifies and provides extensive support to
new parents who seem potentially dysfunctional. Volunteers
initially contact the new parents in hospital and continue care
with telephone contact, home visits, and mailings throughout the
first year of parenthood. This model's cost effectiveness,
flexibility and possible adaptation mean it could be used within
many community settings.
In Hawaii. . .
the Hawaii Family Support System (FSS)is a community-based,
multidisciplinary program designed to prevent child abuse and
neglect, enhance parent functioning and child development in a
multi ethnic/cultural environment. FSS relies upon public and
private human service communities working together. Having
evolved from three to fourteen program sites and from full
federal to full state funding, daily implementation of programs
are contracted with seven private community agencies. Benefits
include: systematic and early involvement of health, social, and
educational agencies with at-risk families; a decrease of child
abuse among children 0-5 years; early identification of
developmental delays among at-risk populations; and reduction of
cost of treatment of families experiencing family violence.
In Minnesota . . .
the STEEP (Steps Toward Effective, Enjoyable
Parenting)Program, developed by the University of Minnesota,
incorporates a variety of strategies to promote healthy family
interaction and development. A key component is home visits by a
"family life facilitator" beginning in the second
trimester of pregnancy, which continue until the babies are a
year old. The program also provides group sessions for the
mothers, providing support and encouraging problem-solving. The
facilitators teach child care skills and help the new parents to
understand infant development. Other family members or friends
are encouraged to attend the home visits with the new parent.
In Kentucky . . .
Kentucky's Parent and Child Education (PACE) promotes family
literacy improvement. The program seeks to provide under-educated
parents with basic skills to both improve employability and to
enable them to serve as better education models for their
children. Parents participate in adult education classes while
their three to four-year old children attend a pre-school program
next door. At the end of the program's first year, three-quarters
of the parents and their children had completed the PACE program.
70% of the adults had either earned GEDs or increased two grade
levels. The program both addresses the needs of two generations
and serves to strengthen families and steer them toward greater
self-sufficiency.
In Washington . . .
Childhaven, a therapeutic day care program in Seattle, is
situated in a low-income, decaying neighborhood. Each morning,
childcare workers make the rounds to pick up the children,
extending the formal program into the family environment. This
allows a realistic appraisal of parent-child interaction, of how
the parent is functioning, and an evaluation of the child's
environment. Parents receive practical parent education including
transportation, casework support, and parent support groups. This
bridge between formal and informal support fills a critical gap
for families with little or no social networks. The children are
assessed regularly and early estimates, based on 142 children,
show that 69% had improved in problem areas when they withdrew
from the program.
In Massachusetts . . .
Boston's Healthy Baby and Healthy Child program, using a
network of 12 neighborhood clinics and two hospitals with strong
adolescent clinics, is a cooperative network. Goals include good
prenatal and postpartum care, positive maternal functioning, and
counseling. Mothers considered still to be high-risk are referred
to the Healthy Child program which provides each family with a
public health nurse and neighborhood advocate for the first two
years of the child's life. Results include a lowering of the
infant mortality rate, low birth weight babies have decreased and
the gap in infant health outcomes has narrowed between black and
white families.
In Colorado . . .
Colorado's Community Infant Project (CIP) creates an
individualized program for each family to boost parent
functioning and skills. In a failure-to-thrive case, the CIP
costs were $654 over a four-month period. A similar case cost the
Department of Social Services $8,128 (including a necessary
out-of-home placement, hospitalization, case worker, attorney and
court involvement).
In Washington . . .
Family Support Project-Homebuilders was created by the
University of Washington, School of Social Work. This project is
designed to establish, maintain and strengthen social support
resources for those families typically isolated from such
resources.
FACT FIND Suggests:
For Minnesota..
More programs to provide intensive family support services.
A system for coordination and integration of existing
programs.
Training for people from many disciplines who influence the
care that parents provide for their babies and small children.
|
1990 issue (2nd of 4
issues)