NCJ Number
217301
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 7-19
Date Published
February 2007
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined how the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), which is intended to promote more timely permanent placements for children in the child welfare system, has impacted parents who have substance abuse problems.
Abstract
The study found that the implementation of ASFA did not unduly hinder the efforts of substance-abusing parents to have their children returned to them from foster care. At the same time, ASFA was able to accelerate, at least to a limited degree, the permanent placement for children who might have otherwise remained in foster care. For the parents and children involved in this study, the efforts of substance-abusing parents to progress toward reunification with their children was enhanced by collaboration among the systems of substance abuse treatment, child welfare, and the court. A majority of treatment agencies reported that they had been working to improve their services to families involved with the child welfare system prior to the implementation of ASFA. The study, which was conducted in Oregon, compared child welfare outcomes before and after the implementation of ASFA for the children of just over 1,900 substance-abusing mothers with some treatment involvement. For these women and their children, data were obtained on demographic and case characteristics, as well as child welfare outcomes. For the latter, the data covered length of stay in substitute care, time to permanent placement, and type of permanent placement. Data on substance abuse treatment addressed previous alcohol and drug treatment, demographics and alcohol/drug treatment characteristics, and characteristics of substance use. 6 tables, 1 figure, and 32 references