SafeCare© | Plataforma de Evidencias

This is a program for parents of children aged zero to five who have been reported for neglect/abuse. The objectives are to prevent child maltreatment and abuse, and improve children’s health, development, and well-being.
It offers structured training in parenting skills, such as home safety, parental supervision, and health-related decision-making. Trained professionals carry out weekly home visits to the family, lasting between 18 and 20 weeks, and teach parents how to have positive interactions with their children, keep their homes safe, and improve their children’s health.
The components are:
1) Explaining the skills and working out their importance;
2) Demonstrating how to develop each skill;
3) Getting parents to practice the skills; and
4) Providing positive feedback and corrections related to the use of learned parenting skills.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies have shown that parents participating in the program demonstrated statistically significant reductions in depression symptoms and a lower risk of child placement in child protective services, compared to those in the control group, who did not receive the intervention. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in the risk of physical abuse of children among a sample of Native American parents [1] [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Chaffin, M., Hecht, D., Bard, D., Silovsky, J. F. & Beasley, W. H. (2012). A statewide trial of the SafeCare home-based services model with parents in Child Protective Services. Pediatrics, 129(3), 509–515. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-1840

[2] Chaffin, M., Bard, D., Bigfoot, D. S., & Maher, E. J. (2012). Is a structured, manualized, evidence-based treatment protocol culturally competent and equivalently effective among American Indian parents in child welfare? Child Maltreatment, 17(3), 242–252. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1077559512457239

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