Infants and toddlers who are placed into foster or adoptive care often exhibit a number of behavioral, emotional and physiological problems. In the absence of specialized services, problems in the relationship between caregiver and child may develop, and problems in the child?s functioning often persist and are exacerbated. We have designed an intervention program to help caregivers in each of three critical areas. The proposed program of research evaluates the efficacy of the intervention in a randomized clinical trial design. Children entering long-term foster or adoptive care between the ages of 10 and 20 months will be randomly assigned to an experimental group focusing on relational issues or to a treatment control group. Caregivers in both treatment groups will receive 10 home visits. Caregivers receiving the relational intervention will be trained to interpret children's behaviors appropriately, to provide nurturing care, and to respond sensitively to their children's behavioral and emotional cues, Caregivers in the treatment control group will receive training designed to enhance children's intellectual development. Caregivers receiving the relational intervention are expected to become more nurturing and responsive in their interactions with their children, to show greater satisfaction in their role as foster or adoptive parents, and to show greater commitment to the children in their care, compared with caregivers receiving the educational intervention. Children of caregivers receiving the relational intervention are expected to develop secure attachments to their caregivers more frequently, to show greater confidence in the solving problems as toddlers, and to show fewer behavioral and emotional problems, than children in the treatment control group. Children of caregivers receiving the relational intervention are also expected to show more normal neuroendocrine regulation as compared with children in the control group.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 53 publications
