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、稳定和永久的住所对儿童的健康发展和福祉至关重要。然而，相当数量的儿童与一位或多位滥用药物的父母生活在一起。这些儿童面临着发育不良以及虐待和忽视儿童的不成比例的风险。如果父母使用药物被认为对儿童安全构成威胁，他们还有可能被从家庭带走，并被置于替代照料之下。过去的研究证明，父母因虐待或忽视儿童而受到调查的儿童，以及大多数因虐待或忽视儿童而被赶出家门的儿童，有很大比例的父母有药物滥用问题。最近的儿童福利政策强调有时间限制地提供服务和加速终止父母权利，这些政策可能与针对这类家庭的药物滥用治疗努力不一致，并可能导致与因其他原因进入儿童福利系统的儿童相比，患有药物滥用的儿童的父母长期或永久与其家庭分离的比例更大。此外，关于如何在儿童福利系统中最有效地干预滥用物质的父母，人们知之甚少。为了解决这些担忧，这项研究将使用全国儿童和青少年福祉调查数据，结合国家一级的政策数据，探索父母滥用药物、国家儿童福利政策、儿童发展、儿童福利案件结果和儿童虐待后遗症之间的联系。具体地说，它将：(1)估计被报告为滥用或忽视的家庭中父母滥用药物的发生率；(2)确定父母滥用药物与特定类型的儿童虐待和忽视之间的联系；(3)调查儿童福利案件结果以及与认知、行为和社会发展相关的结果是否在物质滥用家庭和非物质滥用家庭中有所不同；以及(4)审查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以及为受药物滥用影响的家庭与未受影响的家庭提供的儿童福利案件结果。这项研究可以帮助政策制定者做出明智的决定和制定有效的公共政策，以满足遭受虐待和被忽视的父母滥用药物的儿童的需要。

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.