NCJ Number
144271
Date Published
1993
Length
58 pages
Annotation
This report from the Intensive Substance Abuse Case Advocacy Program project sponsored by the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Services Division of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts is based on a sample of 951 cases from 17 counties. The study subjects were the parents/caretakers of abused or neglected children for whom guardians ad litem were advocates.
Abstract
A survey instrument was developed to assess the contribution that substance abuse by parents or caretakers made to the filing of a petition for abuse, neglect, and/or dependency; other contributory factors that were explored included mental health problems, employment status, poverty, and lack of parenting skills. The findings showed that substance abuse was a factor in 53.5 percent of the cases in the study sample. Substance abusing parents comprised only 45.6 percent of the total number of subjects. Alcohol, with or without other drugs, was the dominant substance of choice among parental substance abusers. Substance abuse in general was most strongly correlated with child neglect, but alcohol use was more frequently associated with child abuse than other drug abuse by itself. The strongest associations for substance abuse included family history of violence, poverty, greater number of contributory factors in general, more parents' needs and children's needs for nondrug specified services, and failure to complete high school. The results suggest that intervention efforts should be focused more on alcohol than on other types of drugs, keeping in mind the prevalence of polydrug abuse. 42 tables, 1 figure, 3 notes, and 2 appendixes