Is there a link between parental drug use and the prevalence of child maltreatment and/or the increase in the number of children in foster care?

Publication Date: July 8, 2019
Current as of:

Answer

Parental substance use is generally recognized as a risk factor for child maltreatment; however, it is difficult to obtain precise, current statistics on the number of families affected by substance use issues in the absence of ongoing, standardized, national data collection on the topic.

Most states can report on whether drug and alcohol use by a caregiver is associated with the investigation, intervention, and removal of a child from the home by child protective services (CPS). The annual Child Maltreatment reports summarize child abuse and neglect statistics submitted by state CPS agencies to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, a voluntary national data collection and analysis system created in response to the requirements of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93—247), as amended. Chapter 3 of the Child Maltreatment report discusses children who are the subjects of reports (screened-in referrals) and the characteristics of those who are determined to be victims of abuse and neglect, presenting the number of victims with drug use as a caregiver risk factor. It is important to keep in mind that these reports and other statistical publications often are released a few years behind the current year because it takes time to collect, analyze, and release data.

Although substance use by itself is not necessarily a primary reason for foster care entry, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which collects case-level information on all children in foster care, references drug use in the context of foster care data. Despite great variation in how states report factors that contribute to foster care cases, AFCARS includes parental drug use as a category under "circumstances associated with child's removal."

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