ABSTRACT
The age range for juvenile offenders in most countries is from 12 to 18. Due to the difficulty of treating juvenile offenders, most of the treatments include highly intensive and often prolonged interventions, which make them difficult to apply on a broad basis. The fact that vigilant care is an appealing concept for parents, that training can be relatively short and that the literature shows its relevance for many risk conditions makes the development of a short-term group training for parents of juvenile offenders a promising endeavor. The first stage of the project was dedicated to the development of a treatment manual and a preliminary examination of the intervention's acceptability and relevance for the parents. Training begins with a discussion of the principles of vigilant care. The importance of parental presence, knowledge and self-control are highlighted and illustrated. The intervention included 12 weekly sessions, and one follow-up meeting two months afterwards.
