Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts

Lincoln, NE

Project Safe Start-Nebraska is a partnership between Family Treatment Drug Courts and child/family mental health service providers to address the mental health needs of infants, toddlers, and preschool children affected by parental methamphetamine use. Child-Parent Psychotherapy, an evidence-based clinical intervention, will address the child's socioemotional adjustment within the context of the parent-child relationship.

Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers cared for by methamphetamine using parents experience a range of negative experiences including chronic neglect of basic needs and nurturance, exposure to violence, exposure to adult sexual activity, and sexual molestation/abuse. Despite the significant negative mental health consequences of these experiences for young children of methamphetamine using mothers, there has been minimal direct attention to providing these children evidence-based mental health services. Project Safe Start-Nebraska will fill that gap. All infants, toddlers, and young children under age five who are in Family Treatment Drug Courts because of parental methamphetamine use will be screened for developmental delays and will be assessed for their socio-emotional adjustment. Further, the quality of their relationship with their parent will be assessed. Those children that are identified to have difficulties will be provided a course of evidence-based Child-Parent Psychotherapy with their parent. Clinicians will provide timely and relevant reports to the Family Treatment Drug Courts regarding the child's well-being, the progress of the child-parent pair in the treatment, and the parental capacity to provide a healthy and nurturing home for the child.

Approximately two-hundred twenty (220) child-parent pairs will be assessed over the four year project with approximately one-hundred ninety-six (196) anticipated to participate in Child- Parent Psychotherapy. Children are expected to make measurable progress in at least one developmental domain, and to increase their positive emotions and their responsiveness to their parent. Parents are expected to increase their emotional and behavioral responsiveness to their child. Reunification rates of the treated child-parent pairs are expected to be greater than the norm in the county. Further, permanency is expected to be more timely for the CPP children than the county norm.