Social Care

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Circle of Security

Circle of Security is a 20-week, group-based, parent educational and  psychotherapeutic intervention designed to shift patterns of caregiving interactions in high-risk, caregiver-child dyads (pairs) to a more appropriate developmental pathway.

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Parents as Teachers

Parents as Teachers trains and supports early-years professionals on how best to engage parents in their child’s development. They develop curricula for parent education based on the latest research in child development and neuroscience and train early-years professionals to deliver these. They also supply extensive support resources both for professionals and parents, follow-up training and mentorship and annual accreditation to maintain quality.

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Roots of Empathy

Roots of Empathy (ROE) is a parenting programme for school children aged 3 to 14, currently being delivered with great success to over 50,000 children per annum in 2,000 classrooms in Canada, USA, Australia and since 2008 in the Isle of Man. It was introduced to both Northern Ireland and Scotland in 2010. Its fundamental goal is to break the intergenerational cycle of violence and poor parenting. Its introduction to Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Scotland all arose from work carried out by WAVE with local communities or voluntary associations in these areas and with Roots of Empathy in Canada. 

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Croydon Total Place

The Croydon Total Place initiative has similarities with the above Highland Region approach, including team-working across agencies, single points of contact for difficult families, early identification etc, plus a number of additional ideas such as involvement of the community, proactively engaging parents and an Early Years Academy to train staff. An approach combining the best of both the Highland Region and Croydon models could deliver much improved outcomes for children as well as significant cost savings.

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Highland Region Streamlined Reaction

Highland Region in Scotland has set up a streamlined reaction system which ensures that the situations for at risk children are dealt with effectively, and in a streamlined manner, the first time they show up on the radar, thus saving the costs and consequences of children remaining in the system for years to come. It is a particularly innovative and interesting model of effective multi-agency working. Senior staff in Highland claim that the streamlined reaction approach has led to greater cost efficiency, lower juvenile crime and less child abuse. A comparison is made with the Croydon Total Place approach, with which there are some similarities.

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Healthy Families America

There is good evidence for the effectiveness of Healthy Families America in preventing child maltreatment. It is a national initiative to help parents get their newborns off to a healthy start. While participation is strictly voluntary, outreach is included in the initiative. Crucially, the home visiting is carried out by trained Family Support Workers rather than health visitors.

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Research of Richard Tremblay

It is commonly said that the peak age for violent behaviour is mid-adolescence. Four decades of research by Professor Richard Tremblay demonstrate that a more accurate statement would be that while the visible consequences of violence are greatest in mid-adolescence, the peak age for aggression and violence in children is 2-3, with those children destined to be the most troublesome offenders in teenage years already distinguished at age 3 by levels of aggression 10 times higher than the most peaceable 30% of toddlers. Tremblay’s research is summarised and has an important message for the most effective age of intervention to reduce violence in society.

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Head Start REDI

Head Start REDI is a child development based intervention that was integrated into Head Start settings. Results show children in REDI classes do better than typical Head Start classes, with gains especially in social skills, language development and emergent literary skills.

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Montreal Longitudinal Study, Canada

The Montreal Longitudinal study was of a school-based parent training that identifies boys with disruptive behaviour in kindergarten but does not work with them until age 7. The 2-year programme then delivered showed positive impact, including lower likelihood of being involved in gangs. Follow-up at age 24 showed that two thirds of the disadvantage of these disruptive kindergarten children had been removed by this 2-year intervention at age 7-9.

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Kraamzorg Postnatal Service, Netherlands

Kraamzorg is a unique Dutch system of universal support for mothers for 8-10 days after they return home following a birth. Help may cover health checks (e.g. stitches clean and healing), hygiene advice, support in breastfeeding, ensuring hygiene levels in the home are high and basic household chores such as cleaning the bathroom, nursery and mother’s room and taking care of meals for the mother.

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Circle of Security

Sir John Bowlby concluded that the most dangerous event for baby mammals, including humans, is separation from a protective adult. Conversely, he also recognised the need for exploration as being essential to survival. His hypothesis was that when children feel safe and secure, their attachment system terminates, and their exploratory system engages. This allows for both optimal safety and the mastery of necessary skills.

Circle of Security

Circle of Security

Circle of Security is a 20-week, group-based, parent educational and  psychotherapeutic intervention designed to shift patterns of caregiving interactions in high-risk, caregiver-child dyads (pairs) to a more appropriate developmental pathway.

Circle of Security

Croydon Total Place

The Croydon Total Place initiative has similarities with the above Highland Region approach, including team-working across agencies, single points of contact for difficult families, early identification etc, plus a number of additional ideas such as involvement of the community, proactively engaging parents and an Early Years Academy to train staff. An approach combining the best of both the Highland Region and Croydon models could deliver much improved outcomes for children as well as significant cost savings.

Highland Region Streamlined Reaction

Highland Region in Scotland has set up a streamlined reaction system which ensures that the situations for at risk children are dealt with effectively, and in a streamlined manner, the first time they show up on the radar, thus saving the costs and consequences of children remaining in the system for years to come. It is a particularly innovative and interesting model of effective multi-agency working. Senior staff in Highland claim that the streamlined reaction approach has led to greater cost efficiency, lower juvenile crime and less child abuse. A comparison is made with the Croydon Total Place approach, with which there are some similarities.

Healthy Families America

There is good evidence for the effectiveness of Healthy Families America in preventing child maltreatment. It is a national initiative to help parents get their newborns off to a healthy start. While participation is strictly voluntary, outreach is included in the initiative. Crucially, the home visiting is carried out by trained Family Support Workers rather than health visitors.

Social Care

Social care and family welfare services are in a unique position to drive outcomes for vulnerable families. This section lists a number of interventions that do this in a creative manner.

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