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Main findings from the kContact trial of a contact intervention to support parents with children in out-of-home care
Taplin, Stephanie Suomo, Aino
Taplin, Stephanie
Suomo, Aino
Author
Abstract
[Key points] This research summary outlines the main outcomes and implications for practice of the kContact study which was conducted across three jurisdictions in Australia. The trial took place between 2015 and 2017 in Victoria and ACT, and 2017 to 2018 in NSW.
The kContact study is the largest trial to date testing the effectiveness of a contact intervention (the kContact Practice Model) in the out of home care context. The main component of the kContact Practice Model consisted of the key workers contacting parents before and after each contact visit to provide them with support. This support helped parents clarify their concerns and expe ctations about contact, and provid ed practical and emotional support for the next visit with the study child.
The study demonstrated that the kContact intervention significantly reduced the proportion of contact visits cancelled by parents. In addition when the program was fully delivered it significantly improved caseworkers’ receptivity to family contact, and significantly improved parents’ satisfaction with contact. T he study showed that supporting parents can be an effective approach to improving contact experiences that can be easily embedded in the current casework practice.
These findings demonstrate the benefit of the kContact Practice Model in providing support to parents to attend contact visits. Given the distress children experience when visits are cancelled or when parents fail to attend a scheduled visit, and when contact visits are negative experiences, being able to show an improvement on these outcomes as a result of the intervention is particularly important.
The findings in this research summary are based on the following publication: Suomi, A., Lucas, N., McArthur, M., Humphreys, C., Dobbins, T., & Taplin, S. (2020). Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to Support Parental Contact for Children in Out-of-Home Care. Child Abuse & Neglect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104708
Keywords
Date
2020
Type
Project Report
Journal
Book
Volume
Issue
Page Range
1-15
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute of Child Protection Studies
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
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Notes
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