NCJ Number
135744
Date Published
1990
Length
255 pages
Annotation
The proceedings and policy recommendations of a symposium of child welfare agencies regarding legal and ethical issues of alcohol and drug dependency problems are presented.
Abstract
The three plenary sessions are transcribed and appear as delivered on topics of understanding the challenge to child welfare, meeting the challenge by coordinating services, and culturally responsive strategies. Subtopics in the first session addressed maternal drug use, continuum of care models, drugs of the 90s, the Federal response, and a child welfare perspective. The second session covered the Statewide perspective of adolescents' in residential care, CPS Hospital trends, a multisystem view from a volunteer, an inner city model for community development, and juvenile and family court recommendations. Participants also took part in one of five concurrent policy discussion groups on child protective services, pregnant alcohol and drug abusers, rights versus responsibilities, in-home services to support chemically-dependent families, out-of-home services for infants and young children, drug abuser prevention intervention, and treatment for adolescents. Each of the groups made specific suggestions for inclusion in CWLA's legislative agenda as well as strategies for improving practices in various service areas. Despite specific differences, all the groups agreed on the need for increased information on the extent and nature of the alcohol and drug related child welfare problems, specialized training, the shifting of priorities in expending resources, placement of the drug epidemic in context, and increased advocacy and unified effort. The appendixes contain a description of the featured programs, a complete list of the CWLA Chemical Dependency Commission, and a selected bibliography.