SafeCare Provides Skills Aimed at Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- In the last 90 days, more than 50 Oklahoma and Payne county families have been referred to the Urban or Rural SafeCare program. SafeCare, an evidence based pilot program, is aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect by serving families who may be at high-risk of abusing or neglecting their own.
Programs like SafeCare are important at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services throughout the year, but are especially so during the month of April-National Child Abuse Prevention Month. OKDHS encourages all individuals and organizations to play a role in making Oklahoma a better place for families. By ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to care for their children through programs like SafeCare, we can help prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families and communities.

"April is a time to celebrate the important role that communities play in protecting children," said Gary Miller, director, OKDHS Children and Family Services Division. “Everyone's participation is critical. Focusing on ways to promote the five protective factors, in every interaction with families, is the best thing our community can do to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect."

Clinical research shows that five important factors are present in healthy families: nurturing and attachment, knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development, parental resilience, social connections and concrete supports for parents. Promoting these factors is among the most effective ways to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect.

One family who participated in the SafeCare program was feeling stressed and overwhelmed with the day-to-day caring for their twin toddlers and their older child. The SafeCare program taught the family different techniques in their home to help bath time and bed time be less stressful. They also learned different activities that were age appropriate for their children and how they could all play together as a family. This family learned the skills they needed to be able to come home from work and know they could handle 3 children under age 5 without yelling or spanking.

The primary goal of the SafeCare program is to prevent child physical abuse and neglect. SafeCare is a home-based behavioral intervention designed to directly change parental behavior to address home safety, home cleanliness, and child medical care and parent-child interactions. The program provides home-based services 1-2 hours per week for approximately 6 months.

In support of Child Abuse Prevention Month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention have created Strengthening Families and Communities: 2009 Resource Guide. The guide, designed for service providers who work throughout the community to strengthen families, is available online at www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/res_guide_2009.

For more information on how to participate in the SafeCare program, contact (405) 858-2726.

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