Preventing Child Abuse Through a Brief Parenting Intervention: 2.5-Year Outcomes From the Safer Kids…

Randomized trialJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry· Jun 2026

Preventing Child Abuse Through a Brief Parenting Intervention: 2.5-Year Outcomes From the Safer Kids Randomized Controlled Trial.

Livia van Leuven, Pia Enebrink, Maria Lalouni, Martin Forster

Child Abuse PediatricsRandomized trialTreatmentQ1IF 4.2

Safer Kids parenting program linked to fewer new child abuse reports over 30 months

Preventing Child Abuse Through a Brief Parenting Intervention: 2.5-Year Outcomes From the Safer Kids Randomized Controlled Trial.

Livia van Leuven … Martin Forster

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · Jun 2026

Purpose

This study evaluated 30-month effects of Safer Kids, a parenting program designed for rapid implementation after suspected child abuse.

Methods

In an open-label, randomized controlled trial, families reported for child abuse to 26 Swedish child welfare agencies were randomized to Safer Kids or intervention as usual.

n = 112 families

Results

Rate of new abuse reports was higher without the Safer Kids intervention

IRR 1.79 (95% CI 1.06 to 3.02)

null 1

1.06

3.02

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

The trial included 112 families (194 parents).

At 30 months, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire showed a consistent effect favoring Safer Kids across analytical approaches (nonimputed data: d = 0.60; 95% CI 0.11-1.09; p = .001).

More results

For the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory, an effect was observed in nonimputed analyses (d = 0.41; 95% CI -0.08-0.89; p = .044) but was not supported in sensitivity analyses.

“

Conclusion

Safer Kids did not reduce the time to the first new abuse report but was associated with somewhat fewer total reports and better child mental health at 30 months, suggesting preventive effects in families with suspected abuse.

Preventing Child Abuse Through a Brief Parenting Intervention: 2.5-Year Outcomes From the Safer Kids Randomized Controlled Trial.

Preventing Child Abuse Through a Brief Parenting Intervention: 2.5-Year Outcomes From the Safer Kids Randomized Controlled Trial.

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