The development of DDP-informed parenting groups for parents and carers of children looked after or adopted from care

Abstract

This article describes the development of two parenting groups -Nurturing Attachments (Golding, 2014) and Foundations for Attachment (Golding, 2017). Both programmes are informed by the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) model developed by Dan Hughes in the USA (Hughes, 2011;Hughes, Golding and Hudson, 2019). The groups were devised to provide much needed support for foster, residential and kinship carers and adopters parenting children and young people of all ages. Participants express high satisfaction upon attending the groups and in the most recent evaluations, report positive and statistically significant changes to their self-efficacy, competence and reflective function. This is despite the continuing challenges presented by the children and the high levels of stress experienced by many parents. The groups are part of the package of support which these carers and parents require, and can supplement individual parenting support and therapeutic interventions as needed. As the development of the groups has been grounded in the experience of foster carers and adoptive parents, underpinned by theory and supported by robust outcome studies, it can be concluded that they provide a helpful intervention for the carers and parents.

Experiences of foster carers remotely accessing the children in care (CIC) consultation model during the Covid-19 pandemic: A service evaluation

“…Despite the useful findings of the service evaluation, it should be recognised that some limitations were evident. Principally, this was apparent when interviewing the foster carers, as a large proportion had accessed the Fostering Lasting Attachments Group (FLAG; Golding, 2006), with only some having attended additional or alternative training (all of which had occurred in person). As a consequence, some participants found it difficult to recall the exact content of consultations, which may have affected the answers they were able to give.…”

Families’ experiences of the Low Arousal Approach: a qualitative study

“…In a longitudinal case study over a ten-year period, positive outcomes were reported for a child with autism when a PBS approach was utilized ( Lucyshyn et al, 2007 ). There is some evidence for positive outcomes of interventions delivered ‘by proxy’ to parents/carers of children with trauma ( Golding, 2019 ) and anxiety ( Lebowitz et al, 2020 ). The Preschool Autism Communication Trial (PACT) demonstrates long-term symptom reduction in autistic children following a parent-mediated early intervention ( Pickles et al, 2016 ).…”