Do parenting interventions work better than we think they do?

What if parenting interventions work better than we think they do?

Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Professor of child and family studies at Leiden University and a research professor of human development at Erasmus University Rotterdam, poses this question in his keynote address at next week’s Helping Families Change Conference at Beurs Van Berlage in Amsterdam on Thursday, February 26.

Professor van IJzendoorn will look at “what works for whom’’ and suggests that some children are more open to influences in their child-rearing environment than others.

In light of this, the modest efficacy of parenting interventions might be explained by a combination of strong effects in the susceptible group and weak or absent effects in the non-susceptible group.

In his keynote, Neil Humphrey, Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Manchester, will explore the role of schools and families in promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing while Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, and former director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, will highlight the importance of focusing on children’s wellbeing to decrease the likelihood of a return to the child welfare system.

To download the full conference program for this year’s event, go here.