Whole Family Theraplay: Integrating Family Systems Theory and Theraplay to Treat Adoptive Families

This article regarding the effectiveness of Theraplay for the clinical treatment of adoptive families both outlines a model for integrating family systems theory with Theraplay to create a new approach entitled Whole Family Theraplay (WFT), as well as provides a preliminary report of a pilot study demonstrating the efficacy of that model. WFT integrates Theraplay with family systems approaches (Structural and Experiential Family Therapies) to treat parents and all the siblings within adoptive families. The findings indicate that WFT treatment may lead to statistically significant benefits in regard to family communication, adults’ interpersonal relationships, and children's overall behavioral functioning.     

“I Deserve a Family”: The Evolution of an Adolescent’s Behavior and Beliefs About Himself and Others When Treated with Theraplay in Residential Care

This article chronicles a seriously disturbed adopted adolescent’s experience in an attachment focused residential program at which the primary treatment was Theraplay^®. Adopted at age four following significant abuse and neglect, Tom lived in institutions for 5 years before participating in Chaddock’s Developmental Trauma and Attachment Program (DTAP). He now resides successfully in the home of therapeutic foster parents. Theraplay treatment directly meets attachment needs through adult-guided, highly positive, engaging and nurturing interactions to change the child’s working models of attachment and to develop affect regulation. Theraplay was especially useful with this adolescent who was born addicted and who had little ability to participate in insight oriented therapy. Topics include adolescence and attachment, Theraplay theory, process and applications, and the DTAP milieu and treatment program. This case study demonstrates that it is possible to improve the outcome for adolescent development by directly meeting the adolescent’s attachment needs through the Theraplay model.     

Family Support Center Village: A Unique Approach for Low-Income Single Women with Children

ABSTRACT

The Family Support Center, recognizing the need for single women with children to maintain stability, has developed a program referred to as the Family Support Center Village, which incorporates a service enriched co-housing model. The “Village” will be the catalyst for these mothers' self-sufficiency and will provide opportunities to develop tools for success and independence.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Bolton, Frank G. The pregnant adolescent: Problems of premature parenthood .
Corfman, E. (Editor) Families today: A research sampler on families and children .
Das, Man Singh and Bardis, Panos D., (Eds.) The Family in Asia .
Giovacchini, Peter L. The treatment of primitive mental states .
Hofling, C.K. and Lewis, J.M. (Eds.) The Family: Evaluation and Treatment .
Jernberg, Ann M. Theraplay: A new treatment using structured play for problem children and their families .
Kovar, Lillian Cohen, Wasted Lives , New York:
Kroth, Jerome A. Child sexual abuse .
Norman, W. H. and Scaramella, T. J. (Eds.) Midlife developmental and clinical issues .
Osherson, Samuel D. Holding on or letting go: Men and career change at midlife .
Palazzoli, M.S., Cecchin, G., Prata, G., and Boscolo, L. Paradox and Counterparadox .
Schneiderman, Gerald. Coping with death in the family .
Woodman, Natalie J. & Lenna, Harry R., Counseling with gay men and women: A guide for facilitating positive lifestyles .     

Beyond Behaviour — The Importance of Communication and Connection in Parenting ‘Defiant’ Children: Pilot Study and Program

Parents of children with defiant behaviour are frequently encouraged to establish clear behavioural expectations and consistency. Yet parental exhaustion, the constancy of the child's demands, and the child's push for control may compromise the success of the behavioural approach, leaving the family and therapist to search for other methods. This paper introduces parenting strategies developed as part of the ‘C Plus C — K Program’ for parents of primary school aged children (age range 5–12 years) with major behavioural problems. The program encourages parents to utilise relationship‐building parenting strategies. It is anticipated that over time, the child will develop self‐regulatory ability in situations of stress, leading to a reduction in problem behaviour. Preliminary data suggests that the program may be effective in achieving this aim. C Plus C strategies are illustrated with a fictional vignette based on common parenting situations.     

Caring for orphans and vulnerable children in a context of poverty and cultural Transition: A case study of a group foster homes program in Burkina Faso

This paper analyses the functional dynamic of a group foster homes-based program in Burkina Faso and its potential to meet the developmental needs of children. Data were collected through field observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Findings suggest that this community-based program combines institutional care and extended family networks. Orphaned, abandoned, and vulnerable children were brought together in foster homes, each headed by a non-relative woman and supported by the program operator. The program guaranteed the basic needs of children as specified by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The nutritional status that is indicative of the overall well-being in emergency seems to be better than the average children of Burkina Faso, suggesting that basic vital needs of children were met. Familial ties are also developed between each family member. Children have the opportunity to interact with community, therefore preparing them for social life. Despite some limitations, mainly due to the lack of psychological support, the program achieves its objectives of caring for children and provides a familial environment for orphans. Therefore, many organizations caring for orphans in Africa through institutional settings might learn from this experience in terms of management style, parenting, and connections with relatives and community.     

How would cash transfers improve child welfare in Viet Nam?

This paper was aimed to estimate how cash transfer to children could help increase access to education and health services as well as to reduce their poverty. To pursue these objectives, we first applied fixed-effect regression models with a panel data from Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) in 2010 and 2012, and then used the predicted results to simulate how welfare indicators would have been changed if children were provided benefits at different levels. We found that cash transfers would have a positive effect on school enrolment and poverty. However, cash transfers would have no significant effects on both impatient admissions and outpatient visits as well as out-of-pocket spending on health care, but a significant effect on the probability of having health insurance. From these findings, we proposed some policy recommendations such as promoting cash transfer program for more vulnerable groups of children would provide opportunities for them to further reduce poverty and increase access to education and health. More importantly, the research emphasized that quality of services to be provided along with cash transfers should also be guaranteed, so as to make sure that the current benefits will be fully translated into socio-economic development of Viet Nam.     

A creative arts intervention for children with diabetes. Part 1: Development

Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes is one of the most serious and prevalent chronic illnesses in children and adolescents. Creative arts and play group therapy provide children with age-appropriate opportunities to learn about their illnesses and express normative feelings of anxiety, anger, and fear. This article offers practical suggestions for beginning a creative arts skits program. Part 2 (to be published in the December 2008 issue) will use the case study method to demonstrate the benefits of such skits for children with diabetes.     

Age Variation in Performance Among Preschool Children in a Sexual Abuse Prevention Program

The purpose of this study was (a) to determine whether preschool age children could be taught sexual abuse prevention skills and concepts, and (b) to determine if any variation in performance exists as a function of the age of the child. Over 1300 preschool children ages 3-to-6-years were pretested and either participated in the prevention program or a control program. Children were posttested on knowledge and skill gains. Children who participated in the prevention program demonstrated greater knowledge of prevention skills and concepts compared to age matched controls. The benefits of participation in prevention program varied across age groups. Multiple comparison of posttest means indicated that trained 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds demonstrated significantly greater knowledge of prevention skills and concepts than 3-year-olds. Trained 6-year-olds demonstrated significantly greater knowledge than trained 4-year-olds. The results indicate that preschool age children can be taught prevention skills and concepts. However, benefit from participation in prevention programs varies with age.     

Teachers and health workers: partners in primary health care. Experiences from Papua New Guinea

Primary health care (PHC) involves community health education. When health priorities in rural communities are focused on the vulnerable under-5-years-of-age group then one has to examine who actually cares for this age group and what are the most appropriate means of reaching them through health education programs. In the context of rural communities in Papua New Guinea the linking of school and community health programs has been taking place. Examples and insights from programs where teachers and health workers attempted to find appropriate channels for integrating child and adult education in order to improve the health status of the very young child are described. The school programs used a child to child approach to develop in children a sense of shared responsibility with adults towards better health for themselves, younger children in their care and the environment of the community. The goal was a health program that applied to the whole community, where division between child and adult learning activities was not so sharply drawn, and where formal school programs and nonformal community education programs were to complement and contribute to each other. A campaign against infant diarrhea and death through dehydration was implemented. As a result of a 3-day planning workshop a program was drawn up for schools and communities. The workshop covered causes of diarrhea, fluid loss and dehydration, simple preventive and curative measures, essential hygiene habits and current community practices. Teachers, health workers and community leaders fashioned a program of activities for school children and adults. It was discovered that adults often feel a barrier between themselves and the child's school learning. Also, a gap often exists between what is taught in school and what is needed and can be applied to community health priorities. Thus, an effective community health education program that includes both children and adults in an integrated program will need to cover the varying ages and groups of community members who, with different degrees of responsibility, take care of themselves and others.     

Maintaining the Gains: What Worked in the Year after Brief Family Therapy

Brief family therapy, including single session therapy, is widely used to provide a timely and responsive service for children with emotional and behavioural problems. However, there is surprisingly little information about how these children and families fare in the longer term. The brief family therapy program described here was directed toward children with problems of moderate severity. Child Behaviour Checklists (CBCL) were completed by parents before, three months after, and twelve months after therapy; 110 parents also participated in semi‐structured telephone interviews twelve months after therapy. Parents' CBCL ratings showed a significant decrease in children's problems after therapy, which were maintained over the subsequent year, although some children continued to experience difficulties. Parents generally found brief therapy a helpful experience. Ways to strengthen the preventive possibilities of brief therapy work will be identified at both a practical and conceptual level.     

Design of a language stimulation program for children suffering abuse

This article proposes an intervention program, designed specifically for children in residential care who suffer institutionalized abuse, aimed at stimulating their use of language. The objective of the intervention procedure is to improve children's linguistic competence and their socio-affective development, as well as to enable parents to communicate and interact effectively with their children. Several studies have focused on the difficulties children suffering from abuse have with verbal expression and other areas of development. The research stresses the need to set up intervention programs that can improve the linguistic and social competence of children suffering from abuse. With such children, there is a fundamental need to develop a competence that will encourage their adaptive social skills, which are basic skills for interacting socially and which encourage the pragmatic language function, a skill needed for relating to adults and solving interpersonal problems.     

DEMOCRATIZING EDUCATION

This paper offers a strategy for teaching street children aged 13–18 to be professional youth workers via a six‐month post‐secondary college‐level program. There would be no literacy or academic prerequisites for entry to the program. During their involvement, the children would be given free room and board in the college student residential facilities; the cost being covered by international development organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The model incorporates incentives provided to employers to hire these youth workers. A small contingent of the street children educated as youth workers would be retained as permanent, salaried members of the college faculty. This innovative pedagogy is thus a vehicle for social integration for these marginalized children, pulling them back from the fringes of society. In this model, the possibility for development of basic literacy skills is expected to arise efficaciously and naturally once the children are placed in a secure environment where their basic needs are met.     

Benefits of mother goose: influence of a community-based program on parent-child attachment relationships in typical families

An estimated 50 to 60% of children from typical families develop secure attachment relationships with their parents (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988); however, intervention research has focused primarily on interventions for high-risk clinical samples (Berlin, Zeanah, & Lieberman, 2008). In this project, the influence of a popular community-based parent-child program was assessed in a non-clinical sample of families. Families participating in a 10-week Parent-Child Mother Goose Program (n.d.) and families on the waitlist for the program were asked to complete questionnaires to assess parenting efficacy and satisfaction as well as parents' perception of their own and their child's attachment styles at the beginning of the program, the end of the program, and six months later. Mothers in the program group reported significantly more positive change in their reports of parenting efficacy over time and also reported significantly more change in their children's attachment category. Specifically, children in the program group were significantly more likely to be classified as secure over time (55% at T1 to 81% at T3) as compared to the waitlist participants (45% at T1 to 62% at T2). In this popular 10-week, community-based program, parents learned skills that continued to influence their relationship with their children six months after the conclusion of the program.     

Making Room for Play: An innovative Intervention for Toddlers and Families Under Rocket Fire

Evidence from both clinical reports and empirical research suggests that symbolic play may help heal children’s traumas. Playfulness, an enduring individual characteristic, also contributes to resilience. However, trauma often sabotages children’s ability to engage in imaginary play and parents’ ability to be involved in playful interactions with their young children. This paper describes an innovative preventive group-intervention program by the name of NAMAL (Hebrew acronym for Let’s Make Room for Play), designed for mothers and their toddlers who live under the chronic stress of recurrent missile attacks in Israel. The major objective of the program is to bolster children’s resilience by enhancing their playful interactions with their mothers. The theme and activities of each session are organized around a saying with a relational or developmental message. Reports collected from 70 mothers after their participation in the program highlighted the success of the intervention and the changes in the children and parents, as well as in their interactions with each other. Follow-up interviews conducted a year after the intervention provided further information on the long-term positive effects of the program.     

Scaling up a community-led health promotion initiative: Lessons learned and promising practices from the Healthy Weights for Children Project

The increase in overweight and obesity among children has emerged as an important public health issue. This trend has highlighted the need for accessible and novel approaches to support healthy weights for children and their families to prevent childhood obesity. The purpose of this article is to describe the iterative development and scale-up of a community-led, national-level project to promote healthy weights among Canadian children and families who may be experiencing vulnerabilities. In this project, the Healthy Together program was designed to engage families in an interactive program to support healthy lifestyles. The program also provides a platform for creating supportive environments for healthful lifestyles through practice and policy change. Based on a process evaluation, we describe the iterative development of Healthy Together from Phase 1 through 3 to shed light on processes shaping implementation and scale-up of the program. Lessons learned during each phase were used to refine the program and further expansion. Indicators of successful scale-up include the Healthy Together program’s cross-jurisdictional reach and promising evaluation results in real-world conditions. The practice-based program scaling approach provides practical guidance for planning and implementing similar health promotion programs in diverse communities.     

Female employment and fertility: a study based on Chilean data

Conflicting studies bring into question the hypothesis that increased employment opportunities for women in the modern sector would reduce the population growth rate. To help clarify the situation, data from about 4000 families in central Chile, obtained from interviews in 1965, are used to test 3 hypotheses: 1) that in the traditional sector of the economy, young children do not adversely affect the mother's labor force participation; 2) that in the modern sector, child care reduces labor force participation unless there are relatives or older children to look after the young children; and 3) that young children also have a positive influence on female employment in that they increase the need for added income. This would be particularly true in the traditional sector where average household income is lower. All hypotheses were proved true by the data. Furthermore, the positive effect on the mother's employment of a larger family size proved to be true in the modern sector as well as the traditional sector. The study indicates that if a country's objective is to lower the population growth rate, a population planning program relying on higher rates of fe male employment will have to be accompanied by other socioeconomic policies intended to achieve a higher level of economic development.