Grant: Operating Grant

Child neglect is among the top reasons for jurisdictions to take custody of children. The SafeCare program was developed in the U.S. to specifically address neglect in families involved in the child welfare system. SafeCare is an evidence-based in-home parent-training program that is being implemented in U.S. states, in the U.K., and in Belarus. Within Ontario child welfare agencies, however, there currently exist no such evidence-based neglect-specific interventions. The objective of the current proposal is to deliver the SafeCare program in several Ontario agencies (that are representative of diversity in terms of culture and geographic location) and to evaluate important implementation issues such as acceptability and feasibility using multiple informants and mixed methods (interviews, questionnaires). We will also gather information prior to and following completion of the SafeCare program to evaluate the effects on participating families. The current project not only has the potential to impact the health of individual children and families but it also has population health implications. Specifically, child neglect is expensive from a community point of view (medical care, out-of-home placement, poor educational outcomes), and once established, it tends to remain persistent. By evaluating the acceptability, feasibility, and effects of the SafeCare program, our project has significant applied relevance because it may lead to the adoption of this program by Ontario child welfare agencies, which then has the potential to help families and to safeguard against the establishment of child neglect as a chronic societal condition.