Building resilience in mother-child residential centers: risk and protective factors

The research analyzes, through a survey follow-up with a sample of 64 mothers entered, on submission of the Juvenile Court, in a mother-child assisted living center in Northern Italy, the variables that influenced the success (child custody to the mother with the project of autonomy of the family) or failure (children abandoned by their mother or given up for adoption by the Court) of the paths in the residential center. In line with the model process-oriented (Cummings, Davies & Campbell, 2000; Di Blasio, 2005), which emphasizes the interplay between amplification and reduction of risk and following the distinction of Baldwin et al. (1990), we analyzed the role of the individual, familiar and contextual distal and proximal risk factors, and proximal protective factors in influencing resilience. Results. Regression analysis indicates that positive outcomes are possible when the amount of protective factors allows a compensation for the risk factors; among the latter, those that have the greatest impact on outcomes are proximal factors. Protective factors are able to counter the vulnerability caused by distal risk factors, supporting the parental resilience.