Program Delivery Option: Adoptive Home

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Early Childhood (ABC-EC), developed for children ages 2 through 4, targets several key issues that have been identified as problematic among children who have experienced adversity and/or demonstrate socioemotional or behavioral concerns. These young children often behave in ways that push caregivers away. The first intervention component is designed to help caregivers reinterpret children’s behavioral signals so that they provide nurturance even when it is not elicited. Nurturance does not come naturally to many caregivers, but children who have experienced adversity especially need nurturing care. Thus, the intervention aims to help caregivers provide nurturing care even if it does not come naturally. Second, many children who have experienced adversity are dysregulated behaviorally and biologically. The second intervention component is designed to help caregivers provide a responsive, predictable, warm environment that enhances young children’s behavioral and regulatory capabilities. The intervention aims to help caregivers follow their children’s lead with delight. The third intervention component is designed to help caregivers implement calming strategies and be present psychologically and physically when their child is dysregulated.

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Infant (ABC-I) is rated separately on this website.

NTDC, the comprehensive no-cost curriculum, is designed to tackle separation, loss, grief, and trauma in adoption and foster care. This cutting-edge resource offers adoptive, kinship, and foster parents flexible education that aims to empower them over the course of time and at the right time. Training is provided both as a synchronous classroom-based learning experience and through asynchronous “Right-Time” online modules that are available at any time for NTDC participants to build further knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy. While this training originated from key concepts to support children with intense service needs, it is designed to be used in any out-of-home placement, including with kin or adoptive caregivers.

Note: NTDC has also adapted to address the unique needs of indigenous communities; however, this separate manualized version is not part of this program review.

The Developmental Trauma and Attachment Program (DTAP) provides a comprehensive approach for children facing the lasting effects of trauma and attachment disruption. Through a fully integrated model combining attachment-focused therapy with trauma-informed practices, DTAP is designed to address foundational needs for trust, emotional regulation, and resilience.

DTAP also prioritizes caregiver involvement, creating a context for healing that is designed to strengthen the family system and foster lasting change.

SuperBetter is designed to improve mental health, resilience, self-efficacy and the success of clients & students. SuperBetter is an easy-to-teach mindset intervention. The SuperBetter Mindset is a mental framework that uses the psychology of game play in all of life. SuperBetter can be implemented using a curriculum, a tech-enabled solution for classrooms/groups, or a mobile/web app. Educators, parents, therapists & social workers can help their students, children, and clients learn the SuperBetter methodology and then use the methodology as a coaching framework to empower mental health, resilience, self-efficacy, social-emotional skills, and success.

TF-CBT for Youth who have Experienced Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation (TF-CBT for T/CSE) is an advanced training for the use of Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) with youth who have experienced trafficking and/or commercial sexual exploitation and may have also experienced other traumas. This training outlines T/CSE-specific applications of TF-CBT PRACTICE components:

• T/CSE-specific psychoeducation
• Processing T/CSE-specific maladaptive cognitions in trauma narration
• T/CSE-related safety concerns including risk of leaving placement [“running away”] and T/CSE revictimization
• Strategies for addressing common T/CSE clinical challenges such as engagement and retention difficulties and significant emotional and behavioral dysregulation.

There is an emphasis on personal safety and supporting caregiver-youth relationships which are often particular concerns with T/CSE clients. TF-CBT for T/CSE can be used in an array of settings including clinics, homes, residential facilities, and in-patient units. This includes utilization with youth with absent or unavailable caregivers, those in foster care placements, and group homes, consistent with the many settings and circumstances in which youth who experience T/CSE are served.

Nurturing Skills™ for Families (NSF) is a model of the Nurturing Parenting® Programs designed to prevent child abuse and neglect by addressing key areas that contribute to a safe and healthy family environment. The program aims to promote positive family practices, enhance parental knowledge and skills, improve communication and problem-solving abilities, build emotional resilience, strengthen family bonds, address risk factors, foster community support, and encourage accountability.

This flexible program is tailored to meet the needs of families with children ranging from prenatal to 19 years old. The Lesson Guide for Parents contains over 80 individual lessons presented across 16 competency areas, with core competency lessons forming the program's basic structure. Additional lessons allow parent educators to customize the program to suit the specific needs of each group or family.

Although the program representatives state that the model can be used with all families, it is only rated in the Interventions for Abusive Behaviors on research with families involved in the child welfare system.

Indiana Family Preservation Services (INFPS) are services designed to work with families who have had a substantiated incident of abuse and/or neglect, where the department of child services/child welfare services believes the child(ren) can remain in the home with their caregiver(s) with the introduction of appropriate services to the family. These services may also be utilized in the absence of a substantiated abuse or neglect allegation if there is an active in-home case. This service shall be for the entire family.

The Incredible Years® Preschool Basic Parent Training Program (Treatment) is a group-based parent curriculum based on video modeling designed to strengthen parent-child interactions and attachment; reduce harsh discipline; foster parents' ability to promote children's social, emotional, and language development; and reduce externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Parents learn how to build school readiness skills and are encouraged to partner with teachers and day care professionals so they can promote children's emotional self-regulation and social skills. Lastly, the program focuses on increasing parents' self-regulation skills and social support.

Research Units on Behavioral Intervention Parent Training (RUBI-PT) program consists of 11 sessions that are delivered from therapist to caregiver (1-on-1) in an outpatient setting. RUBI-PT teaches caregivers a range of skills, based on principles of applied behavior analysis, that are designed to support the building of a behavioral strategy toolbox. RUBI-PT emphasizes:

• Tailoring the intervention to the child
• Identifying behavioral function instead of topography to inform behavioral strategy choice
• Decreasing challenging behaviors as well as promoting core adaptive skills
• Using positive behavioral supports, such as antecedent management, reinforcement, and functional communication strategies as the means to address challenging behaviors

Typically, a session begins with a homework review from the previous week, followed by didactic instruction. RUBI-PT uses a behavioral skills-training approach, including direct instruction, modeling, role-play, video vignettes, and practice with feedback in order to train caregivers in the various RUBI-PT skills. These tools are helpful in reinforcing a new concept and identifying whether the parents understand the concepts. Every session ends with creation of a homework assignment where caregivers track their implementation of targeted strategies during the week.

Early Start is a home visitation program that originated in New Zealand. It focuses on providing tamariki (children) in whānau (families) facing multiple disadvantages with supports and practical assistance.

The key features of the program are:

• Families are enrolled when their child is under one year, and ideally during the antenatal period. The primary focus is the child, providing family support and education to ‘nurture the baby early’ and encourage improvements in lifelong experiences.
• Families receive a comprehensive program which is provided by trained Family Support Workers with qualifications in Nursing, Social Work, Education, Early Childhood Education, or an allied profession.
• The service consists of a modular program of home visiting which may last up to five years.
• The frequency of home visiting varies according to family need and ranges from Level 1 home visiting (weekly) to Level 4 home visiting (one visit every four months).
• The aims of the program are to address a range of issues relating to the well-being of the enrolled child and their family.