Project Impact: An Effective Family Preservation Program for Parents with Intellectual Disabilities

Background: A substantial number of families who have child welfare involvement in the U.S. include a parent with intellectual disabilities. These families are at increased risk for disruptive interventions including out-of-home placements. Despite this, there are few programs designed to meet the unique needs of these families. Project IMPACT is an intensive, in-home, behaviorally-based parent training program designed for parents with intellectual disabilities who are at-risk for out-of-home placement. The program aims to identify risk and protective factors for families, provide parenting education and training tailored to the needs of individual families with the goal of promoting healthy child development, and keep families intact. The current study is an evaluation of Project IMPACT.

Methods: This study used clinical data from Project IMAPCT and a comparison sample drawn from administrative data gathered from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child Files from the same time period. Treatment effects analysis was used to compare parents participating in Project IMPACT (n=134) with a similar group of untreated parents receiving child welfare services, but no family preservation services (n=355), and typical child welfare services, including non-specialized family preservation services (n=173). The final analytic dataset had adequate balance and minimized differences between the groups. Logistic regression was used to identify differences between the groups on the outcome: families remaining intact. Post-estimation marginal analysis was used to explore the relationship between child age, participation in Project IMPACT, and families remaining intact one year after terminating from Project IMPACT and a similar timeframe for untreated families.

Findings: Project IMPACT had a significant and large effect on family preservation compared to the untreated groups. The probability of families remaining intact was 486% greater for Project IMPACT families compared to families receiving no family preservation services and 464% greater for Project IMPACT families compared to families receiving non-specialized services. Families receiving non-specialized services had marginally better odds at remaining intact compared to those receiving no family preservation services; however, those differences were not statistically significant. Post-hoc analysis indicated that the probability of families remaining intact increased regardless of intervention as children aged; however, families participating in Project IMPACT had significantly better chances of keeping their children at home throughout childhood. The greatest benefits were seen when children were under a year old and decreased slightly over time.

Discussion and Implications: Previous research focusing on parents with intellectual disabilities has examined how interventions were related to changes in parenting skills. The current study explored how Project IMPACT affects a specific child welfare outcome, out-of-home placement, in a U.S.-based sample. While this area of research is still in its infancy, Project IMPACT shows promise in helping families remain intact by improving parenting skills. Child welfare systems seeking to reduce out-of-home placements in families in which a parent experiences intellectual disability should consider implementing a program such as Project IMPACT. Additional study is needed to fully document the intervention, design more rigorous research studies, and conduct research with larger samples.