The association between parental substance abuse and child welfare system involvement is well-known but little understood. Most children who become involved with child welfare services continue to live at home. Further, only a small proportion of all children living at home following a child abuse investigation receive ongoing children’s protective services and, even if they are receiving services, they remain at high risk for repeat reports of abuse or neglect. Yet, little science is available to provide information about caregivers with substance abuse problems who are involved in the child welfare system and whose children live at home. These projects seek to provide policy makers with new knowledge of the substance abuse needs of caregivers, child welfare and substance abuse services they receive, treatment experiences, and child welfare outcomes, using the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well Being (NSCAW). This data on the children and parents who receive in-home services addresses a large and important group about whom we now have critical information elements needed to draw policy implications.

Child welfare policy makers and program managers are unclear how to address the nexus between substance abuse and child welfare. Perhaps no other topic has haunted child welfare policy makers more than the question of how much protection is needed versus how much intervention is justified on behalf of the well-being of children living with primary caregivers with substance abuse problems.

Although children living with parents abusing illegal substances are probably more likely to enter foster care than other children, many of these children will remain at home. Only 10 percent of approximately two million investigated reports of abuse or neglect result in children placed in foster care; about 1.5 million children receive some form of ongoing preventive services. Preliminary analyses of data from NSCAW indicate that the number of children who live at home with caregivers with substance abuse problems is greater than the number of children in the foster care system with caregivers with substance abuse problems, about 183,000 and about 102,000, respectively.

The Substance Abuse Needs And Services For Families Involved In the Child Welfare System study is examining the prevalence of substance abusing caregivers, the awareness of child welfare with regard to their substance abuse problems, the services they receive, and the subsequent outcomes of child safety and child well-being.

The grant is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program.