Böcker i Protecting Children and Young People-serien

A practice focused guide that assists social workers and others to support families who need help with the task of parenting their children. This support may be required because families are lacking informal networks of support or because of professional worries about the levels of care parents or other carers are providing for their children.

The past two decades have seen a convergence of findings across studies of traumatic stress, attachment, and neurobiology, confirming the crucial importance of well-being within the mother-infant dyad for life-long mental and physical health, and for reaching the fullest developmental potential. It is now established that there are intergenerational cycles of childhood maltreatment and psychiatric vulnerability that warrant a prevention approach. Pregnancy is a crucial point of intersection between generations. During pregnancy, women with a childhood maltreatment history have a 12-fold increased risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although awareness of the need for trauma-informed care and trauma-specific interventions is increasing in the fields of addiction and mental health treatment in particular, there are no front-line programmes for the childbearing year that address maltreatment-related PTSD. This edited collection addresses the issues of intergenerational cycles of childhood maltreatment and psychiatric vulnerability by providing a resource to facilitate incorporating trauma-informed care and trauma-specific interventions into maternity services with an emphasis on improving outcomes for childbearing women with a childhood maltreatment history.The book will prove of use to those training for or working in child protection and nursing.