9:59 a.m., May 14, 2010----A University of Delaware research team has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of intervention on behalf of toddlers in foster care.

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The study is being led by Mary Dozier, Amy E. du Pont Chair of Child Development in the Department of Psychology at UD, and will involve children and caregivers in Delaware, where researchers will work in collaboration with the State Division of Family Services, and in Philadelphia.

Dozier, who has worked extensively with children and caregivers, said toddlers in foster care “often have difficulties controlling behavior and regulating physiology.”

As a result, she said, “These children often behave in ways that push caregivers away, and that fail to elicit warm, nurturing caregivers.”

The study will look at intervention strategies to help build stronger relationships between the toddlers -- who are 24 to 36 months old -- and their caregivers.

Specifically, the study will assess the effectiveness of the intervention known as Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, or ABC, for toddlers in foster care.

Dozier said ABC targets two key issues, noting the attachment needs of these children are not addressed well by an exclusively social learning approach, and the needs for developing behavioral control are not addressed well by an exclusively attachment approach. “This project will assess the effectiveness of an intervention that targets these dual issues within the context of the child welfare system,” she said.

Dozier said ABC “is designed to help foster parents behave in very nurturing ways to children while still setting limits appropriately.”

It will be studied using a control intervention, Developmental Education for Families, or DEF, which is designed to help parents provide environments that enhance physical and cognitive development.

The intervention's effectiveness will be assessed in a randomized clinical trial. Participants will include 220 young children who are placed into foster care. Children will be randomly assigned to receive either the ABC or the DEF intervention.

Both interventions will consist of 10 sessions delivered in families' homes. Foster parents' behaviors and children's functioning will be assessed at pre- and post-intervention, and when children are 3, 4 and 5 years old through a variety of tasks.

Through time, Dozier said, “We expect children in the ABC intervention to show more secure, trusting relationships with their foster parents, fewer behavior problems, and more normative (typical) production of cortisol. We expect children in the DEF intervention to show better outcomes in physical dexterity and perhaps in cognitive development.”

Dozier said a previous study of an intervention for infants has been shown effective, and now is being implemented in various places in the United States -- including Maryland, North Carolina and Hawaii --and in the world, with programs in Scotland and Norway.

“We are hopeful that this study will demonstrate the effectiveness of this intervention for toddlers in foster care and it will then be used more widely,” she said.

Article by Neil Thomas

Photo by Kathy Atkinson