Child Welfare Information Gateway- Spotlight on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
Evidence-Based Treatments for Parental Substance Abuse
In an effort to determine the types of treatment approaches most effective with substance abusing parents in the child welfare system, a new study examined both individual-level interventions and system-level collaborative efforts between the child welfare and the alcohol and other drug (AOD) systems. The literature review identified a number of evidence-based program components and collaborative models associated with positive outcomes. For individual-level interventions, these components included:
- Women-centered treatment that involves children
- Specialized health and mental health services
- Home visitation services
- Concrete support and assistance (e.g., transportation, child care)
- Short-term targeted interventions
- Comprehensive and holistic interventions
For system-level cooperation between the child welfare and AOD systems, core components included:
- Well-qualified AOD personnel in child welfare offices
- Joint case planning
- Official committees for guiding collaborative efforts
- Training and cross-training
- Protocols for sharing confidential information
- Dependency drug courts
“Substance Abuse Intervention for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System: Evidence and Implications,” by Kathy Lemon Osterling and Michael J. Austin, appears in the Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, Vol. 5(1/2), and is available through the website:
<—Previous Section <—Previous Article Next Article—> Next Section—>
| National Adoption Month |
| CBX covers news, issues, and trends of interest to professionals and policymakers in the interrelated fields of child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption. | |
| More |  |
