Parental Drug Abuse and African American Children in Foster Care: Issues and Study Findings

• NCJ Number: 163675
• Author(s): C Walker; P Zangrillo; J Smith
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 58 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Corporate Author: National Black Child Development Institute
• Sale Source: US Dept of Health and Human Services; National Black Child Development Institute
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Because parental drug abuse has led to a dramatic increase in the national foster care caseload in recent years and has also sparked a debate among child welfare policymakers on how to work effectively with drug-abusing parents, this study profiled 1,003 black children who entered foster care in five cities (New York, Miami, Houston, Detroit, and Seattle) during 1986.

Abstract

Analysis was performed to compare children who came into foster care with parental drug abuse as a contributing factor in placement with those who came into foster care for other reasons. Differences in both segments of the foster care population were tested and assessed in terms of such variables as family and child characteristics, reasons for placement other than parental drug abuse, services offered during placement, role of relatives, and discharge outcomes. It was hypothesized that children who came into foster care with parental drug abuse problems would be from multiproblem families who had few financial and social supports. It was also hypothesized that lack of direct child welfare programs to serve many parental problems, lack of casework resources, and lack of available drug treatment programs for pregnant women and mothers in many cities would cause children to stay in foster care for long periods of time. The study found that child welfare agencies did not achieve permanency for most children, particularly for children from homes with parental drug abuse. Services to address problems contributing to foster care placement were either not available or insufficiently coordinated with other organizations. Relative placements were often available and represented a significant resource for children. Families with parental drug abuse were more likely to have mothers with less education, to be poorly housed, and to receive Aid to Families With Dependent Children prior to placement than other families with children in foster care. Specific study findings are detailed and policy implications are discussed. Appendixes contain additional information on variables used to compare drug and nondrug cases and a summary of statistically significant comparisons between foster care cases with and without drug abuse as a contributing factor in placement. 29 references, 22 tables, and 1 figure