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Families living in urban poverty, enduring chronic and complex traumatic stress, and having difficulty meeting their children's basic needs have significant child maltreatment risk factors. There is a paucity of family focused, trauma-informed evidence-based interventions aimed to alleviate trauma symptomatology, strengthen family functioning, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Trauma Adapted Family Connections (TA-FC) is a manualized trauma-focused practice rooted in the principles of Family Connections (FC), an evidence supported preventive intervention developed to address the glaring gap in services for this specific, growing, and underserved population. This paper describes the science based development of TA-FC, its phases and essential components, which are based on theories of attachment, neglect, trauma, and family interaction within a comprehensive community-based family focused intervention framework.
Family functioning may be negatively impacted when children and adolescents living in poverty experience chronic exposure to trauma(s) and environmental Stressors. Increased exposure to stressful life events and chronic traumas such as multigenerational family, school and community violence, victimization, and traumatic loss often leads to the development and escalation of trauma symptoms among parents and children (Santiago Oc DeCarlo, 2010; Wood, 2003), challenges in parenting (Kiser, Nurse, Lucksted, 6c Collins, 2008), and heightened risk for child maltreatment (Drake 6c Pandey, 1996). There is a dearth both of family-focused trauma treatments (Collins, Connors, Davis, Donohue, Gardner, Goldblatt, Hayward, Kiser, Strieder, 6c Thompson, 2010) and trauma- informed service providers skilled in evidence-based treatment for traumatic stressrelated disorders (Chadwick Center for Children and Families, 2004; Chaffin 6c Friedrich, 2004). Nevertheless, treatment strategies that address the child's experience within the family while incorporating evidence-based interventions show promise for the treatment of youth and families who are traumatized (Igelman, Conradi, Oc Ryan, 2007).
Trauma Adapted Family Connections (TA-FC) is a manualized trauma- focused practice rooted in the principles and essential components of Family Connections (FC), an evidence supported preventive intervention for child abuse and neglect (DePanfilis 6c Dubowitz, 2005). Intervention research (Brekke, Phillips, Pancake, O, Lewis, 6c Duke, 2009; Fraser, Richman, Galinsky, 6c Day, 2009) and implementation science (Fixsen, Blase, Naoom, 6c Wallace, 2009; Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, Oc Wallace, 2005) propose specific processes for developing and adapting interventions for new target populations In particular, challenges in implementation occur when existing evidence supported practices are not tailored and...