Children and Youth Services Review: 'Substance using parents, foster care, and termination of parental rights: the importance of risk factors for legal outcomes'.

Meyer, Andrea S. ; McWey, Lenore M. ; McKendrick, Wachell 等

Parents of children within the foster care system often have drug or alcohol problems. This study, attempting to better understand the experiences of parents struggling with alcohol and drug use, draws comparisons between appellate court foster care cases where parents' rights were terminated to those in which decisions to terminate parental rights were reversed or remanded. It analysed the content of 60 cases, 30 cases in which parental rights were terminated and 30 where decisions to terminate parental rights were overturned or remanded to the lower court. Findings showed that parents whose rights were terminated were more likely to have mental health problems and to have experienced incarceration at some stage and, in addition, when a composite score of risk factors was analysed, had significantly more risk factors. For both groups, poverty was a common risk factor. The authors outline the implications including universal assessments for alcohol and drug abuse for parents involved in the child welfare system, and timely referrals to appropriate treatment. Also, collaboration between mental health providers, substance use treatment programmes and caseworkers to address the integration of potential risk factors may help promote better outcomes for parents whose children are in foster care.

32:5, pp 639-49, May 2010 Kinship care