The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Circle of Security (COS) program has been rated by the CEBC in the areas of: Home Visiting for Child Well-Being, Infant and Toddler Mental Health (0-3) and Parent Training.

• Types of Maltreatment: Physical Abuse, Physical Neglect, Emotional Abuse
• Target Population: High risk populations such as having a child enrolled in Early Head Start or Head Start programs, incarcerated women, or having an irritable baby.

The COS protocol is an early intervention program designed to prevent insecure attachment and child mental disorders. It uses a user-friendly, visually based approach (utilizing extensive use of both graphics and video clips) to help parents better understand the needs of their children. It is based extensively upon attachment theory and current affective neuroscience.

All of the learning is informed around the following themes:

• Teaching the basics of attachment theory via the Circle of Security™
• Increasing parent skills in observing parent/child interactions
• Increasing capacity of the caregiver to recognize and sensitively respond to children's needs
• Supporting a process of reflective dialogue between clinician and parent to explore both strengths and areas of parent difficulties (i.e., being "Bigger, Stronger, Wiser, and Kind," supporting exploration, and supporting attachment)
• Introducing parent to a user-friendly way to explore defensive process.

The COS protocol has the following goals:

• Teach caregivers the fundamentals of attachment theory (i.e., children’s use of the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore and a safe haven in times of distress) by introducing a user-friendly graphic to the caregivers that they can refer to throughout the program.
• Focus intervention on both parenting behaviors and internal working models.
• Present caregivers with a simple structure for considering the ways in which their internal working models influence their cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to their children. The goal is to provide language that gives caregivers awareness and understanding of the non-conscious, problematic responses they sometimes have to their children’s needs.
• Teach caregivers the skills to understand their children’s behavior, and the skills to understand and regulate their own cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to their children.