Court-ordered vs. voluntary treatment of abusive and neglectful parents

The effects of voluntary vs. court-mandated participation in a comprehensive child abuse and neglect treatment program were compared. The treatment program offered therapeutic family day care for the children of preschool age, group sessions for the parents, and home treatment for the entire family. The impact of the program was noted in the quality of the affective interaction between parents and children and disciplinary methods used, among other measures. Families in voluntary and court-ordered treatment participated in the program at comparable levels. They increased significantly their use of praise and descriptive praise in their interaction with their children, and reduced drastically their use of criticism; however, they continued to attend to their children's annoying behaviors. The overall results of this comparison indicate that court-mandated treatment does not necessarily render abusive and neglectful parents less amenable to treatment.