Jean Adnopoz, MPH

My clinical and research career has been devoted to the development of programs and policies that address the needs of children who are at substantial risk for disruption of their relationships with their primary caregivers and placement in facilities and systems other than their biologic families. Our work has focused on children in the child welfare, mental health and juvenile justice systems. Some of these children are vulnerable for abuse, neglect, and abandonment or affected by parental drug addiction, chronic physical or mental illness, mental retardation and homelessness. Others suffer from their own serious psychiatric and behavioral disorders, often the result of the interaction between their own genetic imprint and chronic and pervasive stress, secondary to continuous exposure to neglect, violence and deprivation. The intervention and treatment models we have developed at the Child Study Center offer intensive, home-based, family focused services that incorporate concepts derived from developmental psychopathology, psychoanalysis, transactional risk, cognitive-behavioral and systems theories.

• My colleagues and I are currently engaged in a randomized study of the Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Service (IICAPS) a standardized treatment model for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families that is now being replicated in 17 sites within Connecticut.

• We have also implemented two new models of treatment for children affected by parental substance abuse. Family Based Recovery, (FBR) is designed to address both the parent and child relationship in a developmental context and to provide reinforcement-based substance abuse treatment for parents who are active users. FBR has been replicated in 5 additional sites throughout the state. SAFE Families offers drug and mental health treatment for families from which a child has been removed. In collaboration with Advanced Behavioral Health it aims to promote reunification and permanency.