Comprehensive Overview of Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice

The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare has compiled a comprehensive overview of Trauma-Informed Child Practice for Winter 2013.

Quoting from page 26, referring to No Way Home: Understanding the Needs and Experiences of Homeless Youth in Hollywood” (Rabinovitz, Desai, Schneir,and Clark, 2010):

• Approximately half (48%) of the youth surveyed (n=389) reported previous or current involvement with the child protective services system (CPS); forty percent of youth reported having been removed from their homes by CPS. The mean age when youth reported having been removed by CPS was 9.3 years old. 
• Almost all (95%) of the youth who had been removed from home had been placed in a group home at some time, and close to one-third of the youth reported they had been in 6 or more group homes.
• Clearly, our child welfare system has not been effective in finding these children and youth the safe and permanent housing they require for healthy development.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's Division of Violence Protection has recently released a publication entitled: Essentials for Childhood: Steps to Create Safe, Stable and Nurturing Relationships.

One of the evidence-based programs they recommend is Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: PCIT improves the quality of parent-child relationships and changes how parents and children interact with one another. Parents learn specific skills to build a nurturing and secure relationship with their child. Coaches work directly with parent-child pairs to help them learn new skills.