An estimated 50 to 60% of children from typical families develop secure attachment relationships with their parents (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988); however, intervention research has focused primarily on interventions for high-risk clinical samples (Berlin, Zeanah, & Lieberman, 2008). In this project,…

Reviews the controversy concerning open versus closed adoption in terms of the consequences for the biological parents, adoptive parents, and adopted child. Arguments are caught up in theoretical dialectics and cannot be resolved without longitudinal research. Concludes with suggestions regarding clinical practice in adoption pending further…

Three-year follow-up interviews of White primiparous mothers less than 25 years old at the time of the first live birth showed that the key factors affecting mothers' adjustment were psychiatric impairment, lack of available resources, and mothers' permissiveness in discipline. (CM)

Provides an update of information on infant nurturance and early learning of special interest to providers of services to parents and infants. (BR)

Assesses the relationship between treatment intensity and rehabilitation of 89 child abusers whose MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) profiles revealed high levels of psychological distress. The relationship was positive and statistically significant. The client receiving intense weekly treatment for longer durations was assessed…

Warns of the damaging, even fatal, effects of whiplash shaking and jolting of infants and very young children. (Author)

The Instrument for Systematic Assessment of Parent Attachment Behaviors (ISAPAB) can be used to help families in need of information and support concerning parent-infant interaction. The ISAPAB is based on the assumptions that parent attachment behavior can be placed on a continuum from most optimal to least optimal, and that critical behaviors…

A preliminary report on a study of patterns of child care by drugs addicted mothers stresses indicators of risk to the infants revealed in the mothers' life-styles. (CM)

The experience of bearing and caring for a sick or handicapped infant is described from the point of view of parents, whose responses were gathered from a clinical study. Implications for the child's development and methods of family support are discussed. (Author/RH)

Describes an effective, cost-efficient method of intervention with families of failure-to-thrive infants which employs supervised social work students to model nurturing and provide support services to mothers. (Author)

Outlines the difficulties parents face in the first year after childbirth and describes a postpartum intervention program. Obstacles faced by the program due to cultural prohibitions against acknowledging parental ambivalence to a newborn child are also discussed. (Author/DB)

Compared developmental functioning, health and caregiving needs, visits by biological parents, and case dispositions of 204 infants of various prenatal drug-exposure status. Found that infants with verified drug exposure had significantly more health and caregiving needs, received fewer biological parent visits, and were more frequently placed…

Tested the validity of the Brigid Collins Risk Screener (BCRS) to assess child abuse risk in a sample of 49 expectant mothers. Found that at 3 months postpartum, high-risk mothers scored significantly lower on the quality of infants' physical, social, and emotional environments than moderate or low-risk mothers. Concluded that the BCRS appears to…

Explored the criteria for placement decisions used by child protection workers in three suburban Chicago counties with regard to infants who have been exposed to cocaine. Content analyses uncovered a complex decision-making process that demonstrated consistency across geographic regions. Several primary factors influenced decisions for in-home or…