NCJ Number
243029
Date Published
2013
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Child Family Community Australia presents this paper, which provides a theoretical basis for using a systems approach in working with vulnerable and high-risk families in which the children's needs are generally being met, but parenting is at times not "good enough" or even unsafe for the children.
Abstract
While recognizing that some children at risk for maltreatment require out-of-home care, other children are best served by intensive home-based family support. This is the case for children living in family environments that are safe most of the time, but which occasionally become unsafe due to periodic parental maltreatment behaviors. This is the case when a parent periodically abuses alcohol, contributing to heated arguments between parents that are witnessed by the children. There is no clear description in the literature of what constitutes a "safe" home environment for children. Practitioners are required, under most State legislation, to base decisions regarding intervention on the risk of harm or significant harm that is occurring or may occur to the child. The assessment of the environment will depend on a judgment about harm and how the home environment may contribute to sustained or chronic maltreatment that threatens the child's physical and/or mental health. The systems approach has been advocated by a number of child protection experts. This approach emphasizes minimizing identified harmful behaviors in the home environment and minimizing them with established systems that magnify the strengths of healthy parent-child interactions while installing safety plans that minimize the threat to children of maladaptive parental behaviors. 2 figures and 31 references