Boys Town In-Home Family Services (BT-IHFS)
Life periods served
Where the program was applied
Country of application
Description

This is a home-based parenting skills training program for parents of children and adolescents aged between 0 and 17 who are at risk of foster care in institutions responsible for protecting the rights of children and adolescents. The aim is to encourage family safety and protection, and to prevent the separation of parents from their children by placing them in child protection institutions.
The program is aimed at parents who are struggling to access basic services or who have inadequate and ineffective parenting skills and/or children with special needs.
The intervention follows an individualized protocol with a focus on strengthening the family bond, which involves engaging the family, an assessment, planning services and interventions, parenting skills training, referrals to resources and services, and planning for the closing of the monitored case.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed a significant improvement in children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors, a reduction in stress levels, and an improvement in family safety and in parenting skills and abilities [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Hurley, K. D., Griffith, A. K., Casey, K. J., Ingram, S. & Simpson, A. (2011). Behavioral and Emotional Outcomes of an In-Home Parent Training Intervention for Young Children. The Journal of at-Risk Issues, 16(2), 1–7. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ960071.pdf