Citation

Stacks AM, Barron CC, Wong K. Infant Ment. Health J. 2019; 40(4): 523-540.

Affiliation

Bradley Research Center, E. P. Bradley Hospital, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/imhj.21785

PMID

31095763

Abstract

This article describes an infant-toddler court team in Michigan, the community-based participatory research approach to the implementation evaluation, and the resulting changes in parenting. Like other court teams, Michigan's Baby Court is led by a science-informed jurist, and all service providers are knowledgeable about the developmental needs of young children and engage in collaborative communication throughout the case. Relationship-based treatment in the form of infant mental health home-visiting was provided to families. Sixteen parents participated in pre- and posttest evaluation visits to assess changes in parents' reflective functioning and interactions with their child.

FINDINGS suggest improvements in parents' responsiveness, positive affect, and reflective functioning, with moderate effects. Higher risk parents demonstrated significant changes in reflective functioning, as compared to those at lower risk. These findings add to and support the limited literature on the effectiveness of infant-toddler court teams, which include relationship-based and trauma-informed services.

© 2019 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Language: en

Keywords

attachment-based interventions; court teams; infant mental health; maltreatment; parenting