Child Maltreatment
...lopment. This program’s critical elements are based on 20 years of research, and represent the field’s most current knowledge on the issues of child abuse and what it takes to implement a successful home visitation program. Their goals are to prevent child abuse and neglect, enhance parent’s ability to create stable and nurturing home environments, help develop positive parent-child relationships, promote healthy child development and growth, and help ensure that the families’ social and medical needs are met. The services they offer are voluntary and begin with a voluntary assessment that determines what kind of treatment the family needs and how long it should last. These services can be initiated at the prenatal stage, at the birth of the baby or within 3 months of the baby’s birth. They are usually very intensive and can be provided up to five years. The intensity of these services can be decreased over the years depending on the needs of the family and their progress toward a stable home environment. Besides having the support of the family worker, the parents are also connected to a medical provider that will help ensure optimal health and development of the baby. The families can also be linked to additional services such as housing programs, food, child care services, job training, and health insurance services. In addition to being encouraged to be interactive with their babies, the parents are also encouraged to become involved in existing neighborhood support systems such as church or neighborhood associations. The reason the parents are pushed to get involved in these programs is to help them provide an outside support group they can go to for additional help. This program has been very successful and in my opinion is a very good idea. They help stop the problem before it starts. However, there is a major flaw in the program, it’s volunteer-based. Sometimes parents don’t think they have a problem and will not go looking for help. Unless that parent comes to HFF, they cann...