Two-Generation Psychiatric Intervention in the Prevention of Early Childhood Maltreatment Recidivism

摘要

"Adam" is a 4-year-old boy who was placed in foster care under the guardianship of his maternal aunt after an emergency department visit for listlessness, where it was discovered that, after a series of coercive disciplinary practices, his mother had overdosed him with clonidine in an attempt to manage his disruptive behavior. After 6 months in the child welfare system, his case was moving toward termination of parental rights, and he and his family were referred by the Family Court for psychiatric support via the SYNCHRONY Project. At this juncture, his mother was a frequent intruder into the home of the foster mother, his maternal aunt (far exceeding the mother's authorized weekly supervised visits), where she (the mother) would desperately attempt to assert her own disciplinary practices over her sister's caregiving of Adam, at times resulting in authorities escorting her from the home. The father was at a loss as to how best to support the mother and had distanced himself from the escalating domestic struggles between mother and aunt.