Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment

About This Program

Target Population: Abused, neglected, at-risk, and/or drug-affected children, one month through five years of age, referred by Child Protective Services (CPS), Child Welfare Services (CWS), Chemical Dependency Treatment Centers, Department of Health/Public Health (PH) and Economic Services Administration/Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and their parents

For children/adolescents ages: 0 – 5

For parents/caregivers of children ages: 0 – 5

Program Overview

Childhaven's Childhood Trauma Treatment (formerly known as Childhaven Therapeutic Child Care) provides therapeutic child care and other optional specialized treatment services to abused, neglected, at-risk, and/or drug-affected children, one month through five years of age, and their families. Children are referred by Child Protective Services, Child Welfare Services, Department of Health, or the TANF Program. Early intervention and treatment services are provided 5.5 hours per day, five days a week in a licensed child-care (therapeutic/treatment milieu) setting and are designed to meet the unique needs of each child and family. Each facility holds Mental Health licensure as well. All children in the program receive individualized therapeutic care in a group/classroom setting. Parents are welcome and encouraged to visit their children and participate in the treatment in the therapeutic child care setting. Therapeutic treatment is based on medical necessity which includes diagnosis, and addresses the individual psychosocial, emotional, behavioral, developmental, and health problems presented by each child. The treatment is provided in an inclusive, natural, safe, and monitored environment by Lead and Line Staff (Therapeutic Classroom Teachers and Program Managers). Each child is also assigned to Child and Family Therapist (Treatment Planner and Monitor) who oversees their assigned children's treatment plans by engaging in the classrooms periodically, meeting regularly with the Lead and Line Staff to discuss children's progress on their goals, and providing optional specialized treatment services. These treatment services focus on dyad work with the child and their caregivers and include Triple P – Level 4, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Incredible Years, and Promoting First Relationships (PFR).

Program Goals

The overall goals for Childhaven's Childhood Trauma Treatment are:

  • Prevent negative health outcomes associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress
  • Prepare children to be successful learners
  • Improve parenting skills
  • Build on family's strengths to increase resilience

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Essential Components

The essential components of Childhaven Trauma Treatment include:

  • Therapeutic Child Care
    • Assessment resulting in appropriate Diagnostic Classification and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC 0-3), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), or International Classification of Disease (ICD) diagnosis
    • Individual treatment planning and monitoring where child and family outcomes must be based on identified areas of concern; services clearly document who will provide the service and the frequency, intensity, and method of the service includes 90-day reviews and discharge planning
    • Case management by licensed clinicians who monitor the child and family for abuse and neglect, parental substance abuse, and compliance with safety and court-ordered conditions
    • Transportation of child to and from the program each day
    • Nutritious meals three times a day
    • Health care monitoring
    • Monthly home visitation
    • Parent skills training/individual coaching with applied parenting instruction (instruction within treatment milieu)
    • Low staff to child ratios with 1:3 for infants/toddlers and 1:5 for preschoolers ages 2-5 years
    • High Scope, Childhaven Personal Safety, Second Step and Anti-Bias curriculum implementation
    • Therapeutic play
    • Right Response curriculum focused on positive behavior support
    • Therapeutic Classroom Teacher who is trained, emotionally attuned, and responsive caregivers who interact with children and families
    • Childhaven Client Profile documentation system consisting of a daily, physical, emotional and behavioral ratings
  • Other optional specialized services available for the child and parents based on individual treatment plan needs:

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Presenting problems and symptoms resulting from a DC0-3 or DSM diagnosis are addressed on a case-by-case basis including parent/child attachment, traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, regulatory disorders, mood disorders, eating and sleeping disruption

Parent/Caregiver Services

Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

  • Parent isolation/feelings of hopelessness and depression, inappropriate parenting behaviors, attachment disorders

Recommended Intensity:

5 days per week for 5.5 hours per session for therapeutic care part

Recommended Duration:

Treatment duration is dependent upon an Individual Treatment Plan (ITP) and case needs.

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Birth Family Home
  • School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

  • Licensed Child Care Facility (with fully functional kitchen and space to meet licensing requirements)
  • Mental Health Licensure
  • Play Therapy Rooms
  • Transportation Vehicles
  • Computers

Personnel:

  • Clinical Supervisor
  • Early Learning Branch Managers
  • Licensed Child and Family Therapists
  • Case Managers
  • Therapeutic Classroom Teachers
  • Registered Nurses
  • Support Staff (Cook, Janitor, Housekeeper)

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

Early Learning Branch Manager: Bachelor's degree (BA) from a four-year college or university in Early Childhood Education (ECE) or related field and two years of teaching experience and supervisory experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience. (Education must include 45 credits in ECE in accordance with Childcare Licensing.)

Case Manager/Child and Family Therapist: Master's Degree or equivalent combination of experience and education from an accredited program. Preference given to individuals experienced in case work with disadvantaged or dysfunctional families from a variety of cultural backgrounds and those with experience in working with preschool children. Position must be filled by a Licensed Mental Health Counselor; Independent/Licensed Clinical Social Worker; or Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.

Health Care Coordinator: Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) with experience in pediatrics and community health plus two years of nursing experience in the care of children in a community health or acute-care setting ; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Preference given to those with experience working with abused/neglected children and their families.

Therapeutic Classroom Teacher - Lead: Bachelor's degree in ECE/Child Development or related field* with two years of experience an Associate's degree in ECE/Child Development or related field and at least six years of experience, a child development associate (CDA) and 10 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience. (*Degree in related field requires twenty clock hours or two college quarter credits of basic training that is state approved, if applicable.)

Therapeutic Classroom Teacher - Assistant: Bachelor's degree in ECE/Child Development or related field with one year experience an Associate's degree in ECE/Child Development or related field and at least five years of experience, a high school diploma or general education development (GED) and nine years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Degree in related field or experience with no degree may require a minimum 9 units in ECE/Child Development.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Formal training format is not available. Training is provided on a case-by-case basis for parties interested in learning more about the program.

Number of days/hours:

Dependent on training needed

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is no formal support available for implementation of Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Fidelity Measures

There are no fidelity measures for Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are no implementation guides or manuals for Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement Childhaven Childhood Trauma Treatment.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Moore, E., Armsden, G., & Gogerty, P. L. (1998). A twelve-year follow-up study of maltreated and at-risk children who received early therapeutic child care. Child Maltreatment, 3(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559598003001001

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 61 during treatment, 35 at follow-up

Population:

  • Age — 1-24 months at baseline, 12-14 years at follow-up
  • Race/Ethnicity — (At follow-up) Treatment: 57.1 % African American, 4 % Biracial, 1% Asian, 1% Caucasian, and 3% Other; Control: 14.3% African American, 21.4% Biracial, 28.6% Asian, 21.4% Caucasian, and 14.3% Other
  • Gender — Not specified
  • Status — Participants were children referred for abuse or neglect by CPS, and children identified as at-risk by a medical and social service network.

Location/Institution: Seattle, WA

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
Children were randomly assigned to the Childhaven Therapeutic Child Care program (now called Childhaven's Childhood Trauma Treatment) or to standard CPS community services (control group). Measures used were the Youth Self Report, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher's Report Form, the Personal Experiences Screening Questionnaire (PESQ), the Problem Behavior Scale, and the Self-Perception Profile for Children. An in-home observation was also completed using the HOME method. Data were also collected from juvenile court and school files. Homes that participated in Childhaven's Childhood Trauma Treatment were rated as providing more support for child development due to parental responsiveness, positive emotional climate, and encouragement of maturity. Among those youth who were arrested in the time before the follow-up, control group youth were arrested at a younger age and for more serious crimes. They also had more delinquency episodes. Among those without arrests, control group youth were rated as more violent and more likely to have used drugs or alcohol. Control group youth were also rated higher on aggression on the CBCL. In measures of psychosocial functioning, caregivers of control group youth were more likely to report somatic complaints, anxiety/depression, social problems, and internalizing behaviors. Childhaven's Childhood Trauma Treatment caregivers reported fewer attention problems in their youth on the CBCL. On the Self-Perception Profile, only the rating for Social Acceptance reached significance, with treatment youth rating themselves higher. No significant differences in school performance were found, with both groups having generally low grades. Limitations of the study include attrition and small sample size.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 10 years.

Additional References

Armsden, G., Gogerty, P., & Jones, V. (1998). The Childhaven client profile system (2-5): A daily clinical record for use in therapeutic child care. Child Maltreatment, 3(3), 284-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559598003003008

Saunders, B. E., Berliner, L., & Hanson, R. F. (Eds). (2004). Child physical and sexual abuse: Guidelines for treatment (Revised Report: April 26, 2004). National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. https://mainweb-v.musc.edu/vawprevention/general/saunders.pdf

Contact Information

Bethany Larsen
Agency/Affiliation: Childhaven
Website: childhaven.org
Email:
Phone: (206) 957-4815
Fax: (206) 382-3303

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: April 2021

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: December 2018

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: April 2008