Parenting after trauma: Supporting parents and caregivers in the treatment of children impacted by violence

Abstract The deleterious impact of trauma on parents and their capacity to parent their children seems well recognized in the clinical community, although not sufficiently studied empirically. The purposes of this article are to present an overview of current knowledge about trauma and parenting, to provide an illustrative clinical case study, and to offer recommendations for systemic treatment modalities, multidisciplinary program design, and empirical evaluation. The preponderance of evidence from both the available literature and clinical observations indicates the crucial need for caregiver support in families who have experienced violence. The case study provides an exemplar of the overlapping and interrelated clinical needs of families experiencing trauma. The authors conclude that future empirical study should focus on delineating the processes through which parent functioning following trauma affects children, as well as establishing the effectiveness of treatment and the links between improvement in parent mental health and subsequent enhanced functioning in children. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.