Coaching Parents of Vulnerable Infants

Mary Dozier, PhD, is Unidel Amy E. du Pont Endowed Chair and Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. She studies the development of young children in foster care and young children living with neglectful birth parents, examining challenges in attachment and regulatory capabilities. Along with her graduate students and research team, she developed the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) parenting program for parents of vulnerable infants. Through randomized clinical trials, ABC has been demonstrated to be effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and children’s behavioral and biological functioning. At the University of Delaware, Dr. Dozier has been named the Francis Alison Professor, the university's highest faculty honor. She has also received the Translational Research Award from the International Congress on Infant Studies and the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution in Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association.Kristin Bernard, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Developmental Stress and Prevention Lab at Stony Brook University. As a graduate student, Dr. Bernard worked with Mary Dozier on the development and evaluation of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC), and delivered the intervention as a parent coach. She continues to collaborate with Dr. Dozier and her team on evaluations of ABC's efficacy and is leading dissemination efforts in New York City in collaboration with Power of Two and the Administration for Children’s Services. Dr. Bernard is a recipient of the Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families from the American Psychological Association.

• 1. Introduction to Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up2. Attachment3. Development of the ABC Intervention4. ABC for High-Risk Birth Parents5. ABC for Foster Parents6. ABC for Parents Adopting Internationally7. ABC for Parents of Toddlers8. The Evidence Base for ABC9. Intervention Fidelity10. Disseminating ABC11. Other Interventions Targeting Sensitive Parenting12. Power of Two13. Fostering Relationships, with Caroline K. P. Roben14. Future Directions

"This wonderful book is a true gift to the fields of child mental health and early intervention. The ABC program for supporting struggling parents is theoretically rooted and evidence based. It is a model of how to move from research to application. With excellent writing and numerous rich case examples, the book gives the reader an understanding of how the intervention works, its rationale, and the ample evidence supporting its effectiveness. It is remarkable to find a body of work that is of such great significance both practically and theoretically."--L. Alan Sroufe, PhD, William Harris Professor of Child Development, University of Minnesota“Dozier and Bernard have devised a wonderful, completely original technique for interventions in parenting. Their ABC intervention allows the clinician to be present in the home, to capture relationship difficulties and problematic parenting behaviors at the very moment they occur, and to be fully supportive. Parents respond to this intervention within weeks. The book presents both empirical findings and case studies that show that ABC works. I was a foster care worker before becoming a developmental psychologist--I only wish this book had been available then!"--Mary Main, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley"Case studies of parents and infants draw the reader in to understanding the development of ABC and how it has been carefully evaluated over several decades. This highly readable book is essential for clinicians working with families of young children, researchers working with foster care or adoptive families, and students of attachment and human development. In my view, the ABC program sets the gold standard for conceptualization, development, and implementation of an important program that works. Dozier and Bernard's book pulls everything together into one place; this will be a valuable resource for clinicians, faculty, and students for years to come. It contributes strongly to university-level coursework in psychology, social work, psychiatry, and family therapy."--Harold D. Grotevant, PhD, Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst"In this masterful volume, the authors provide a clear, compelling description of ABC, a well-studied and important intervention for infants, toddlers, and their parents. Numerous clinical vignettes vividly illustrate the techniques and their applications. A translational tour de force, this book is a gem for practitioners, investigators, and policymakers."--Charles H. Zeanah, Jr., MD, Mary Peters Sellars-Polchow Chair in Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Tulane University School of Medicine"This is a fabulous book--instructive, insightful, and inspiring. It makes complex ideas related to attachment and behavior regulation understandable, and engages readers with concrete examples of coaches working with families. The book shows how a strong system of supports assures that ABC coaches have the ‘can do’ and the ‘will do’ to deliver the intervention faithfully. I’m eager to use this book with my graduate students in the classroom, in seminars, and in special studies to teach the principles of theory-based intervention development, implementation, adaptation, and scale-up."--Anne K. Duggan, ScD, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health"As a leader of a national advocacy group, I am always looking for ways to educate our staff and the systems we work with about meeting the special needs of infants and young children who have experienced trauma. Not only does this book describe a highly effective program, but it also provides background on early childhood development and the impact of adverse experiences, and honestly discusses challenges in implementation. ABC provides a model for those of us attempting innovative systems change."--Carole Shauffer, MEd, JD, Senior Director, Youth Law Center, San Francisco -