Efficacy of Group Attachment Based Intervention for Vulnerable Families

Child abuse and neglect ("maltreatment") pose enormous short- and long-term risks to children. Yet despite the critical importance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau's goal "to reduce fatal and non-fatal child maltreatment," non-empirically supported parenting skills classes remain child welfare agencies' standard approach to meeting this goal. The study examines the effectiveness of parent-child Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI) in reducing risk of maltreatment in infants and toddlers compared with parenting skills classes. GABI directly addresses the needs of isolated, marginalized families, with the goals of of enhancing parent coping and resilience, and improving parent-child attachment relationships. Seventy families with children aged 2-36 months who are referred for parenting help will be randomly assigned to either GABI or "treatment as usual" that consists of parents-only parenting skills classes. Treatment will be offered for up to 6 months. Both groups will be assessed at baseline, end of treatment and at 6 months follow up.