Child Maltreatment, Child Development, Public Policies, and Parental Addiction

描述（由申请人提供）：大量研究表明，安全，稳定和永久的家庭对儿童的健康发展和福祉至关重要。然而，相当多的儿童与一个或多个滥用药物的父母生活在一起。这些儿童不成比例地面临发展成果不佳以及儿童虐待和忽视的风险。如果父母使用药物被认为对儿童安全构成威胁，他们也有可能被带离家庭，接受替代照料。过去的研究表明，父母因虐待或忽视儿童而受到调查的儿童中，很大一部分儿童，以及大多数因虐待或忽视儿童而被赶出家门的儿童，其父母都有药物滥用问题。最近的儿童福利政策强调提供有时限的服务和加速终止父母权利，这可能与为这类家庭进行的药物滥用治疗工作不一致，并可能导致与因其他原因进入儿童福利制度的儿童相比，父母滥用药物的儿童长期或永久与家庭分离的比例更高。此外，人们对如何在儿童福利制度的范围内最有效地干预滥用药物的父母知之甚少。为了解决这些问题，本研究将使用全国儿童和青少年福利调查的数据，结合国家一级的政策数据，探讨父母滥用药物，国家儿童福利政策，儿童发展，儿童福利案件的结果和儿童虐待后遗症之间的关联。具体而言，它将：（1）估计在被报告为虐待或忽视的家庭中父母物质滥用的发生率;（2）确定父母物质滥用与特定类型的儿童虐待和忽视之间的联系;（3）调查儿童福利案件的结果，以及认知、行为和社会发展相关的结果，是否在物质滥用和非物质滥用家庭中的儿童之间存在差异;以及（4）研究与未受影响的家庭相比，国家儿童福利政策是否以及如何影响向受药物滥用影响的家庭提供的服务类型和儿童福利案件结果。这项研究可以协助决策者作出知情的决定，并制定有效的公共政策，以满足父母滥用药物的受虐待和被忽视儿童的需要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A substantial body of research suggests that safe, stable, and permanent homes are crucial for children's healthy development and wellbeing. Yet, a considerable number of children live with one or more substance abusing parents. These children are disproportionately at risk for both poor developmental outcomes and child abuse and neglect. They are also at risk of being removed from their families and placed in substitute care if parental substance use is deemed to pose a threat to child safety. Past research has documented that a large proportion of children whose parents are investigated for child abuse or neglect, and the majority of children removed from their homes due to child abuse or neglect, have parents with substance abuse problems. Recent child welfare policies that emphasize time-limited provision of services and expedited terminations of parental rights may be inconsistent with substance abuse treatment efforts for such families, and may result in a greater proportion of children with substance abusing parents experiencing lengthy or permanent separations from their families, as compared to children who enter the child welfare system for other reasons. Furthermore, little is known about how to most effectively intervene with substance abusing parents in the context of the child welfare system. To address these concerns, this research will use data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, in combination with State-level policy data, to explore associations between parental substance abuse, State child welfare policies, child development, child welfare case outcomes, and child maltreatment sequelae. Specifically, it will: (1) estimate the incidence of,parental substance abuse among families reported for abuse or neglect; (2) identify associations between parental substance abuse and specific types of child abuse and neglect; (3) investigate whether child welfare case outcomes, as well as cognitive, behavioral, and social development r.elated outcomes, differ for children in substance abusing and non-substance abusing families; and (4) examine whether and how State child welfare policies affect both the types of services provided to, and child welfare case outcomes for, families affected by substance abuse compared to families not affected. This research can assist policy makers in making informed decisions and developing effective public policies for meeting the needs of abused and neglected children with substance abusing parents.