Drug Abuse and Child Welfare.

• Author: McCann, Meghan
• Position: STATESTATS - Brief article

The effects of the opioid epidemic on the criminal justice and health systems have been well documented, while the relationship between substance use and child welfare caseloads has been largely anecdotal, until now. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service released two reports this spring detailing research that shows a positive correlation between drug overdose deaths and drug hospitalizations and foster care caseloads.

Caseloads have been steadily increasing since 2011, including the number of babies entering the system who are less than a year old. In 2015, when the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System began reporting "drug abuse of a parent" separately from "alcohol abuse of a parent," the impact of parental drug abuse on foster care caseloads became clearer.

In FY 2016, drug abuse by a parent was the second leading reason for removal of a child. Also in the top 10...