Overview For parents
The Infant-Caregiver Project studies the effectiveness of training programs for parents and children.
Through following the development of children for many years, we have identified three key issues for children who experience disruptions in care at an early age.
Children who have experienced disruptions in care tend to:
- Push caregivers away emotionally when they are hurt or frustrated, acting as if they can handle things on their own.
- Are at risk for developing insecure attachments to new caregivers.
- Are often dysregulated at behavioral and biobehavioral levels.
Based on these results, we have developed a training program for parents, the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Intervention, that addresses the special emotional and relationship needs of children.
The intervention will help parents:
- Provide nurturance even when children do not appear to need it.
- Provide nurturance even when it does not come naturally to parents.
- Provide a very predictable environment, so the children can learn to regulate their behavior and emotions.
The training will be provided in the homes of foster parents, birth parents, and relative caregivers. We hope to follow these children for five years. The Infant Intervention Project will test the effectiveness of the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Intervention.
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