Child Welfare and Substance Abuse Services: From Barriers to Collaboration (From Substance Abuse, Family Violence, and Child Welfare: Bridging Perspectives, P 188-219, 1998, Robert L. Hampton, Vincent Senatore, et al., eds. - See NCJ-172346)

• NCJ Number: 172352
• Author(s): S M Colby; W Murrell
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines the barriers to collaboration between the fields of child welfare and substance abuse and offers principles for overcoming the barriers.

Abstract

Barriers to collaboration between the fields of child welfare and substance abuse include different professional missions, resolution of different missions, lack of trust between agencies, lack of expertise, and resolution to the lack of expertise. Other influences on the implementation of policy include the "bad families" label, which isolates the most troubled families for punitive intervention; the "bad mother" label, which may result in loss of their children and all of their resources for women who receive positive drug tests; and the "bad drug" label, stereotypes and biases in evaluating drugs of abuse tied to information about specific populations who use the drugs; and provider values, histories and biases that influence how policy is implemented and services delivered. The chapter describes three programs that demonstrate successful collaboration between substance abuse and child welfare services: ADAPT Program in Ohio, MAP Program in Miami, Florida, and Project Discovery and other programs at the Women's Correctional Facility in Rhode Island. Table, references