Abstract
With the enactment of the US Family First Prevention Services Act (FFA) in 2018 came a renewed focus on the types and quality of services provided to families involved in the child protective service (CPS) system. However, identifying and disseminating evidence-based approaches is only one part of what is needed to protect children from harm. The role of family, school, and community is often de-emphasized, yet these systems typically have a greater capacity to protect children than formal service providers. The authors call for a rigorous multisystemic approach to the protection of children, one that pays attention to children at risk of harm and those who are involved in formal child protection systems because they have experienced maltreatment. A multisystemic approach would focus largely on a child’s natural ecology (i.e., family, school, community) and include a much broader array of possible interventions. This article draws from the authors’ experiences of implementing ecologically-based treatment models based on multisystemic therapy, including the Neighborhood Solutions Project (NS) and Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN). Although designed primarily for formal intervention (i.e., youth at risk of community violence and families who are experiencing child abuse and neglect), the MST-related broad systemic approach, including its core treatment principles and an analytic process has wider applicability. For example, the MST processes were central to meeting community needs targeting health and well-being in a rural village in the eastern region of Ghana where no child protection system existed. Likewise, the MST-related approach is applicable to a fuller spectrum of family needs (e.g., families at risk of but not experiencing maltreatment) and to a wider array of professionals and laypeople working with child protection-involved/at risk for involvement families. Bringing family, community, and child protective services (i.e., multiple systems) together through a shared vision for the protection of children may be the most effective way to ultimately keep all children safe.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2018). Kids count data book: State trends in child well-being. Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation Retrieved from www.aecf.org.
Anthony, B. J., Serkin, C., Kahn, N., Troxel, M., & Shank, J. (2018). Tracking progress in peer-delivered family-to-family support. Psychological Services. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000256.
Arney, F., McGuinness, K., & Westby, M. (2012, June). Report on the implementation of family group conferencing with Aboriginal families in Alice Springs. In Centre for Child Development and Education Menzies School of Health Research Available at https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/about-fahcsia/publication-articles/foi/Document%201.PDF.
Belsky, J. (1995). Expanding the ecology of human development: an evolutionary perspective. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder Jr., & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 545–561). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Child Welfare Information Gateway (CWIG). (2015). Foster care statistics 2013. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. Retrieved on 2/15/19 from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets
Connolly, M. (2006). Fifteen years of family group conferencing: coordinators talk about their experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand. British Journal of Social Work, 36, 523–540.
Dottridge, M. (2014). Locally-developed child protection practices concerning mobile children in West Africa. Terre des homes. Retrieved on 2/15/19 from: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/StudyMigrants/CivilSociety/TerreDesHommesKidsAbroad.pdf.
Frost, N., Abram, F., & Burgess, H. (2014). Family group conferences: evidence, outcomes and future research. Child and Family Social Work, 19, 501–507. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12049.
Hartman, R. R., Stage, S., & Webster-Stratton, C. (2002). A growth curve analysis of parent training outcomes: Examining the influence of child risk factors (inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity problems), parental and family risk factors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 388–398.
Henggeler, S. W., Schoenwald, S. K., Borduin, C. M., Rowland, M. D., & Cunningham, P. B. (2009). Multisystemic therapy for antisocial behavior in children and adolescents (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Johnides, B. D., Borduin, C. M., Wagner, D. V., & Dopp, A. R. (2017). Effects of multisystemic therapy on caregivers of serious juvenile offenders: A 20-year follow-up to a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85, 323–334.
Kimbrough-Melton, R. J., & Melton, G. B. (2015). “Someone will notice, and someone will care”: How to build strong communities for children. Child Abuse and Neglect, 41, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.02.015.
Maguire-Jack, K., & Showalter, K. (2016). The protective effect of neighborhood social cohesion in child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse and Neglect, 52, 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.12.011.
McLeigh, J. D., McDonell, J. R., & Lavenda, O. (2018). Neighborhood poverty and child abuse and neglect: The mediating role of social cohesion. Children and Youth Services Review, 93, 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.07.018.
Nicholson, J., & Valentine, A. (2018). Defining peerness: Developing peer supports for parents with mental illnesses. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 41, 157–159.
Olds, D. L., Kitzman, H., Hanks, C., Cole, R., Anson, E., Sidora-Arcoleo, K., Luckey, D. W., Henderson Jr., C. R., Holmberg, J., Tutt, R. A., Stevenson, A. J., & Bondy, J. (2007). Effects of nurse home visiting on maternal and child functioning: Age-9 follow-up of a randomized trial. Pediatrics, 120(4), 832–845.
Prinz, R. J., Sanders, M. R., Shapiro, C. J., Whitaker, D. J., & Lutzker, J. R. (2009). Population-based prevention of child maltreatment: the U.S. Triple P system population trial. Prevention Science, 10, 1–12.
Redmond, C., Spoth, R., Shin, C., & Lepper, H. (1999). Modeling long-term parent outcomes of two universal family-focused preventive interventions: one-year follow-up results. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 975–984.
Rogoff, B., Dahl, A., & Callanan, M. (2018). The importance of understanding children’s lived experience. Developmental Review, 50(Part A), 5-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.05.006.
Sanders, M. R., Markie-Dadds, C., & Turner, K. M. T. (2003). Theoretical, scientific and clinical foundations of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program: A population approach to the promotion of parenting competence. Parenting Research and Practice Monograph, 1, 1–21.
Schaeffer, C. M., Swenson, C. C., Tuerk, E. H., & Henggeler, S. W. (2013). Comprehensive treatment for co-occurring child maltreatment and parental substance abuse: Outcomes from a 24-month pilot study of the MST-building stronger families program. Child Abuse and Neglect, 37, 596–607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.04.004.
Schurer Coldiron, J., Bruns, E. J., & Quick, H. (2017). A comprehensive review of wraparound care coordination research, 1986–2014. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(5), 1245–1265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0639-7.
Scriven, G. (2018). Restorative justice. In R. Woolley (Ed.), Understanding inclusion: core concepts, policy and practice (pp. 172–184). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Slack, S. S., Holl, J. L., McDaniel, M., Yoo, J., & Bolger, K. (2004). Understanding the Risks of Child Neglect: An Exploration of Poverty and Parenting Characteristics. Child Maltreatment. 9, 395-408. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559504269193.
Supkoff, L. M., Puig, J., & Sroufe, L. A. (2012). Situating resilience in developmental context. In M. Ungar (Ed.), The social ecology of resilience: A handbook of theory and practice (pp. 127–142). New York, NY: Springer Science Business Media.
Swenson, C. C., & Schaeffer, C. M. (2018). Multisystemic therapy for intimate partner violence (MST-IPV treatment manual). In Charleston, SC: Medical University of South Carolina. Baltimore: University of Maryland Baltimore.
Swenson, C. C., Henggeler, S. W., Taylor, I. S., & Addison, O. (2009). Multisystemic therapy and neighborhood partnerships: Reducing adolescent violence and substance abuse (reprinted paperback (Ed.)). New York: Guilford.
Swenson, C. C., Schaeffer, C. M., Henggeler, S. W., Faldowski, R., & Mayhew, A. (2010). Multisystemic therapy for child abuse and neglect: A randomized effectiveness trial. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 497–507.
Swenson, C. C., Yeboah, S. N., Yeboah, N. A., Spratt, E. G., Archie-Hudson, M., & Taylor, I. S. (2018). Sustainable change in rural Africa through village-guided interventions and global partnerships. Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, 12(1), 373–394.
United Nations Human Rights (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. Retrieved on 10/28/2019 from https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2019). Child Maltreatment 2017. Retrieved on February 15, 2019, from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2017.pdf.
Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Euser, E. M., Prinzie, P., Juffer, F., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2009). Elevated risk of child maltreatment in families with stepparents but not with adoptive parents. Child Maltreatment, 14, 369–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559509342125.
Weist, M. D., Youngstrom, E. A., Stephan, S., Lever, N., Fowler, J., Taylor, L., McDaniel, H., Chappelle, L., Paggeot, S., & Hoagwood, K. (2014). Challenges and ideas from a research program on high-quality, evidence-based practice in school mental health. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 43, 244–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.833097.
Funding
The ideas in this article were supported by work done through a National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01MH60663 to Cynthia Cupit Swenson; a National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant 5R01DA029726 to Cynthia Cupit Swenson and Cindy Schaeffer; and by an Annie E. Casey Foundation grant GA-2018-B0322 to Cynthia Cupit Swenson and Cindy Schaeffer. The authors wish to thank Ida Singletary Taylor, Iris Poole, Samuel Nkrumah Yeboah and Scott Henggeler for the life lessons taught that formed the ideas behind this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Cynthia Cupit Swenson and Cindy Schaeffer are consultants in the development of MST-CAN and MST-BSF programs through MST Services, LLC, which has the exclusive licensing agreement through Medical University of South Carolina for the dissemination of MST technology. The Medical University of South Carolina owns intellectual property rights to the MST treatment model. As such, the university receives royalties related to the treatment implementation.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Swenson, C.C., Schaeffer, C.M. Who’s in the Child’s Corner: Bringing Family, Community, and Child Protective Services Together for the Protection of Children. Int. Journal on Child Malt. 2, 143–163 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-019-00038-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-019-00038-1