Safe Environment for All Children

This is an early childhood care program. The aim is to promote attention to psychosocial factors and prevent child abuse in families that are at risk.
The program seeks to strengthen families and enable the development, health, and safety of children by monitoring participants using trained professionals, who address problems such as parental depression, psychoactive substance use, exposure to chronic stress, domestic violence, abuse, and social and economic vulnerability with an impact on housing, hygiene, and nutrition.
Risk factors are identified by means of around seven assessments throughout the child’s first five years, so that professionals can refer families to specialized assistance services and collaborate to solve problems.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies have shown significantly lower rates of child maltreatment across all measures evaluated: fewer reports issued by child protective services, fewer cases of possible medical neglect documented as non-adherence to treatment, fewer children with delayed immunizations, and fewer severe punishments reported by parents [1] [2].
The intervention was also associated with better responses to address depression, substance use, intimate partner violence, and parental stress [3], and improved the comfort level for residents, their perception of competence, and their practical behavior in relation to prevalent psychosocial problems that are risk factors for episodes of child maltreatment [4].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Dubowitz, H., Feigelman, S., Lane, W., & Kim, J. (2009). Pediatric primary care to help prevent child maltreatment: the Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) model. Pediatrics, 123(3), 858-864. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.00987_5.x

[2] Dubowitz, H., Lane, W. G., Semiatin, J. N., & Magder, L. S. (2012). The SEEK model of pediatric primary care: Can child maltreatment be prevented in a low-risk population?. Academic Pediatrics, 12(4), 259-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2012.03.005

[3] Dubowitz, H., Lane, W. G., Semiatin, J. N., Magder, L. S., Venepally, M., & Jans, M. (2011). The Safe Environment for Every Kid model: Impact on pediatric primary care professionals. Pediatrics, 127(4), 962-970. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-1845

[4] Feigelman, S., Dubowitz, H., Lane, W., Grube, L., & Kim, J. (2011). Training pediatric residents in a primary care clinic to help address psychosocial problems and prevent child maltreatment. Academic Pediatrics, 11(6), 474-480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2011.07.005

Information source

The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse