Strategy

Safe Care

What is it?

Safe Care is an in-home parent training program designed to address risk factors for child neglect and physical abuse. The program teaches parents how to positively interact with their children, recognize hazards in the home, and respond to symptoms of illness and injury. The goal of the program is to reduce future incidents of child maltreatment, improve parent-child relationships, and enhance home safety. Trained Providers conduct one-on-one home visits where they utilize a four-step approach to instill parent target behaviors. This approach involves explaining the rationale for each skill, modeling the skill, asking the parent to practice the skill, and providing positive and constructive feedback for the parent. 

What is the evidence base?

Parents that participate in Safe Care improve their parenting skills, use non-violent discipline, gain parenting knowledge, and reduce parenting stress. Children exhibit a decrease in child aggression. 

• Whitaker et al_2020_Effect of the SafeCare Intervention on Parenting Outcomes Among Parents in Child Welfare Systems
• Self-Brown et al_2018_The Impact of SafeCare Dads to Kids Program on Father Maltreatment Risk and Involvement