Child neglect poses physical and emotional risks and can cause complicated attachments and cognitive delay. Ultimately, prolonged child neglect can lead to long-term mental health problems and relationship difficulties in adult life. Although it is much more common than other forms of child maltreatment, such as physical or sexual abuse, child neglect has received much less public attention. At a time when evidence-based practice is demanded in all areas of education, health and social care, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence on interventions that specifically address the management and prevention of child neglect. Addressing this gap, this book explains how behaviour-analytic parent education can be used to develop individualised programmes to help parents - particularly those who are vulnerable due to having grown up in State care, having intellectual disabilities, or being young first-time parents - to care for their babies or young children.
The book outlines the well-established knowledge base and methods of behaviour-analytic interventions and guides workers on how to develop individualized programmes that can be evaluated by practitioners, using single-system research designs. The authors show how to link the programmes with various commonly used parent education techniques in ways that: - offer a transparent and accountable way of working - are culturally-sensitive and promote service user involvement - allow expectations of parents to be clearly outlined and progress to be evidenced - reinforce parents' strengths rather than focusing on deficits - help create positive collaborative relationships - allow working methods to be adapted quickly to ensure that they are effective in achieving the agreed goals - enable and empower workers and parents in any context. The non-prescriptive approach and its emphasis on adaptability mean this book can be used in study and practice anywhere. Dr Benny McDaniel spent many years managing a residential family assessment unit for Barnardo's in Northern Ireland and educated many family and child care teams throughout the UK, using methods described in this book.
Professor Karola Dillenburger is an internationally respected educator and researcher and has used methods described here to educate parents in international contexts, including Europe, Australia and India. They share over 40 years of combined research and practice experience in this book, in theoretical as well as practical explanations. Their individual data collection instruments and assessment checklists are included in the useful and adaptable Practice Tools that are also provided in the book and can be obtained in PDF and Word formats from links provided. Child care social workers, parent educators, and other professionals committed to safeguarding children from neglect will find here help for their work with all parents. Academics and policy-makers will see how a behaviour-analytic knowledge base can inform both practice and research.