Towards a safe home:A study on the assessment of parenting among families in complex problem situations with infants and toddlers to achieve family preservation and permanency

The Expertise Center for Treatment and Assessment of Parenting and Psychiatry (GGZ Drenthe) performs the complex task of parenting assessment. Unique to this intervention program is the combination of treatment and assessment (with regard to the question what the best place for the child is to grow up) and the clinical admission of the family. Within clinic The Stee, for families with children aged 0-2 years, an evaluation study was conducted to determine to what extent the Expertise Center achieves the intended program objectives and to gain relevant knowledge. The results of the study are not univocal and they rather reflect the complexity of the intervention goals. Nevertheless, it has become clear that the intervention is promising and has a lot of potential. For example, according to the majority of parents, The Stee team succeeded in establishing a positive working relationship with them. Moreover, the intervention contributes to timely placement decisions. In addition, the quality of parenting improved among a number of families during the intervention and a number of parents, whose children were placed in foster care after the intervention, came to understand and accept that this was in the best interests of the children. Points of attention that have emerged include the lack of a current and well-founded intervention description, and the importance of more transparent decision-making and a more careful transition home in terms of appropriate aftercare and a better organization of necessary services.The Expertise Center for Treatment and Assessment of Parenting and Psychiatry (GGZ Drenthe) performs the complex task of parenting assessment. Unique to this intervention program is the combination of treatment and assessment (with regard to the question what the best place for the child is to grow up) and the clinical admission of the family. Within clinic The Stee, for families with children aged 0-2 years, an evaluation study was conducted to determine to what extent the Expertise Center achieves the intended program objectives and to gain relevant knowledge. The results of the study are not univocal and they rather reflect the complexity of the intervention goals. Nevertheless, it has become clear that the intervention is promising and has a lot of potential. For example, according to the majority of parents, The Stee team succeeded in establishing a positive working relationship with them. Moreover, the intervention contributes to timely placement decisions. In addition, the quality of parenting improved among a number of families during the intervention and a number of parents, whose children were placed in foster care after the intervention, came to understand and accept that this was in the best interests of the children. Points of attention that have emerged include the lack of a current and well-founded intervention description, and the importance of more transparent decision-making and a more careful transition home in terms of appropriate aftercare and a better organization of necessary services