@article{ref1,
title="Reducing abuse and neglect recurrence among young foster children reunified with their families",
journal="Pediatrics",
year="2023",
author="Constantino, John N. and Buchanan, Gretchen and Tandon, Mini and Bader, Carol and Jonson-Reid, Melissa",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Child maltreatment (CM) is a recurrent adverse life event known to cause enduring psychiatric impairment throughout life. For young children in protective custody for a first episode of CM, specialized court-coordinated intervention to optimize reunification has shown promise for preventing CM recidivism, with case series documenting short-term successes. <br><br>METHODS: We tracked 10-year (Nov 2011-March 2022) court re-entry outcomes in a cohort of 272 young children, birth to six years, reunited with their families following placement in protective custody and court referral to the SYNCHRONY Project, a voluntary clinical service providing Incredible YearsTM parenting education, parental psychiatric care, and serial dyadic clinical evaluation to inform medical recommendations on safety for visitation and reunification. Re-entry was operationalized as rereferral to any Missouri Court and proportions compared with contemporaneous State and national data. <br><br>RESULTS: SYNCHRONY-enrolled/reunified children experienced frequencies of guardianship (22%) and reunification (46%), in keeping with Missouri averages. In these categories, 3.4% and 7.1% respectively were re-referred to the Court over the 10-year follow-up. In care as usual nationally for this age group, the re-referral proportions are 18% (OR 7.5, P <.0001) and 35% (OR 6.1, P <.0001) respectively. In care as usual in Missouri across all ages, the re-referral proportion is 16% (odds ratio [OR] 3.09, P <.0001). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Judicious implementation of evidence-based parenting education, 2-generation psychiatric care, and clinical consultation were associated with marked reduction in court re-entry versus care-as-usual and warrant consideration in intervention standards for young children in foster care.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0031-4005",
doi="10.1542/peds.2022-060118",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-060118"
}