The impact of state-level prenatal substance use policies on infant foster care entry in the United States
The impact of state-level prenatal substance use policies on infant foster care entry in the United States
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DOI：
10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106194
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发表时间：
2021-09-08
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Durrance, Christine Piette
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Atkins, Danielle N.;Durrance, Christine Piette
背景：美国正面临着物质使用危机。过量死亡、被捕、父母和产前药物使用造成的一个后果是对寄养系统的依赖增加。为了回应对产前药物使用的关注，一些州采取了政策，将出生时确定的产前药物使用视为虐待或忽视儿童。目的：探讨将产前药物使用视为虐待或忽视儿童的国家级政策对1岁以下儿童进入寄养系统的影响。参与者和环境：我们使用2000年至2016年收养和寄养分析和报告系统中未满1岁儿童的寄养记录数据。方法：我们采用差分法来估计国家一级的政策对1岁以下儿童的寄养率的影响，这些政策处理出生时实现的儿童虐待或忽视的产前物质使用。结果：我们发现这些政策使1岁以下儿童进入寄养系统的比率增加了大约9.5% （p < 0.10）。伪造检验不支持其他年龄组的变化或不相关的撤职原因。结论：实施惩罚性政策，没有考虑到产前物质使用的复杂性，可能无法改善婴儿和家庭的生活。政策制定者应把重点放在改变孕产妇行为和结果的支持性干预措施上。
Background: The United States is facing a substance use crisis. One consequence, resulting from overdose deaths, arrests, parental and prenatal substance use, is increased reliance on the foster care system. In response to concerns about prenatal substance use, some states adopted policies that treat prenatal substance use identified at birth as child abuse or neglect. Objective: To investigate the effects of state-level policies treating prenatal substance use as child abuse or neglect on admissions to the foster care system for children less than 1 year. Participants and Setting: We use data on foster care entries for children less than 1 year from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System from 2000 to 2016. Method: We employ a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the effect of state-level policies treating prenatal substance use realized at birth as child abuse or neglect on the rate of foster care entry for children less than 1 year. Results: We find these policies increase the rate of entry into the foster care system for children under the age of 1 year by approximately 9.5 percent (p < 0.10). Falsification tests support no change in other age groups or unrelated reasons for removal. Conclusions: Implementing punitive policies, without accounting for the complex nature of prenatal substance use, may fail to improve the lives of infants and families. Policymakers should focus on supportive interventions that modify maternal behavior and outcomes.