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

摘要

The report compared children who came into foster care as a result of parentaldrug abuse with those who came into foster care for other reasons using data from a National Black Child Development Institute study that profiled 1,003 African American children entering foster care in five cities in 1986. Findings included (1) that child welfare agencies are not achieving permanency for most children, particularly those from homes with parental drug abuse; (2) services to address the problems contributing to placement in foster care were either unavailable or insufficiently coordinated with other organizations; and (3) families with parental drug abuse were more likely to have mothers with less education, be poorly housed, and receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) than other families with children in care. The study concluded that because families with children in placement have multiple, complex problems, an effective coordinated system that can provide intensive, comprehensive, and personalized services is needed.