Risk Study

The DCRC research team is currently collecting data to support the validity of the DECA-P2 as a tool for measuring and promoting the within-child protective factors of young children. For this study, we are looking for parents of preschool children (ages 3-5) to participate in a study to better understand how risk factors in children’s lives impact their social and emotional health. Parents will be asked to complete a packet of three assessments, including the DECA-P2, the Conner’s Early Childhood assessment, and a survey to assess the amount of risk in the family’s life. The packet takes about 30 minutes to complete and participants will remain anonymous. Parents who complete the packet will receive a $10 gift card.

We will also provide $10 for each completed packet to individuals serving as study coordinators who help us to recruit, distribute, and collect study materials.

For more information or to sign up for the study, please contact Jennifer Fleming Robitaille at jflemin2@devereux.org.

DECA Revision

The DCRC research team has completed one of it’s largest data collection projects to date in 2012!  As part of the revision of the new preschool DECA, the assessment was newly normed and standardized.  This involved collecting data on nearly 4,500 young children across the nation!  These data were used to develop new, up-to-date norms, and fresh DECA items.  DCRC now has a strong dataset for understanding the social and emotional strengths and needs of young children today in the U.S.  Upcoming analyses will consider the differences in young children from the original dataset collected in 1997 and the current 2011 dataset.  Research questions may include: Are there changes in the social and emotional competencies of young children in the U.S. associated with poverty, race, or gender from 1997-2011?

Study On The Effectiveness Of The Your Journey Together Curriculum

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children was awarded funding for a research project to study the effectiveness of the Your Journey Together (YJT) curriculum – a curriculum designed to promote the social and emotional well-being and resilience of vulnerable children and their families. Funding was granted by The Florida Institute for Child Welfare (FICW) an initiative based out of Florida State University (FSU). Through its first grant-making period, FICW provided funding for just 10 projects in the State of Florida.  The Devereux Center for Resilient Children is proud to have proposed one of the 10 funded projects!  The proposal was written in collaboration with Dr. Ana Leon of the University of Central Florida (UCF) who will serve as one of the Principal investigators working alongside DCRC’s Research Associate Gabriel Smith, and Deborah Alleyne, Primary Author of the YJT Curriculum. The study uses a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design (nonequivalent control group design) to collect data from caregivers of children ages birth through five years who are referred by the Division of Children and Families to participating agencies. A number of Florida-based Child Welfare agencies will collaborate with us on this project.

Joan Sherman Program For Resilient Children

DCRC has partnered with SCAN Inc., in Fort Wayne, Indiana to use the DECA-P2, as well as the DECA-I/T  and DESSA to measure and build the protective factors of children in supervised visitation services. This children have been removed from their home due to allegations of abuse and neglect. Through this partnership a curriculum called the Joan Sherman Program for Resilient Children has been developed which uses a coaching model to help parents engage positively with their children during supervised visits.  This project involves a multi-site research study to evaluate the effectiveness of this program for enhancing parenting skills, developing children’s protective factors, and preventing future abuse and neglect.  For more information on the Joan Sherman Program for Resilient Children, click here.

For more information on our work within the Child Welfare System, click here.