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The following are research briefs and other publications made available by ADOA.
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Integrating Substance Abuse Treatment and Child Welfare Services: Findings from the Illinois Alcohol
and Other Drug Abuse Waiver Demonstration (pdf, 1154kb)
ABSTRACT: Alcohol and other drug abuse is a major problem for children and families involved with
public child welfare. Substance abuse compromises appropriate parenting practices and
increases the risk of child maltreatment. A substantial proportion of substantiated child abuse
and neglect reports involve parental substance abuse. Once in the system, children of
substance-abusing families experience significantly longer stays in foster care and significantly
lower rates of reunification. To address these problems, child welfare systems are developing
service integration models that incorporate both substance abuse and child welfare services.
This study provides an initial examination of the effectiveness of one service integration
model that emphasizes the provision of intensive case management to link substance abuse and
child welfare services. The authors used an experimental design and focused particular
attention on two outcomes: access to substance abuse services and family reunification.The
findings indicate that the families assigned to the experimental group used substance abuse
services at a significantly higher rate and were more likely to achieve family reunification than
were families in the control group.
Integrated
Services for Families With Multiple Problems:
Obstacles to Family Reunification (pdf, 134kb)
ABSTRACT: Child welfare clients with co-occurring problems are recognized as clients who have difficulty
achieving positive child welfare outcomes. The current study focuses on families in the child welfare
system with co-occurring problems and the impact of such problems on the likelihood of reunification.
The current study contributes to the literature on service integration by examining whether it is
necessary to go beyond assessment and service access to insure families make progress in each cooccurring
problem area to achieve reunification. The sample is comprised of 724 substance-abusing
families enrolled in the Illinois Title IV-E Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Waiver
Demonstration. Data on client progress consisted of provider ratings completed quarterly to track
progress related to problems of substance abuse, domestic violence, housing and mental health. The
findings indicate that progress in resolving co-occurring problem areas does increase the likelihood of
achieving family reunification. Thus, the provision of the child welfare service model alone is
insufficient. In order for child welfare systems to increase reunification rates, services must target the
specific needs of individual families and assist them in achieving progress within co-occurring problem
areas. Successful integrated service programs must identify the range of specific problems that clients
are dealing with and insure that they address and resolve these problems in order to increase the
likelihood of family reunification.
Completing Substance Abuse Treatment in Child
Welfare: The Role of Co-Occurring Problems and Primary Drug of Choice (pdf, 100kb)
ABSTRACT: A significant number of substance-abusing parents in the
child welfare system do not complete substance abuse treatments.
Consequently, their children experience longer stays
in substitute care settings, and the risk of the termination of
parental rights is increased. This study identifies and determines
the specific factors that explain the completion of substance
abuse treatment for substance-abusing caregivers in
child welfare. The sample includes 871 caregivers enrolled
in the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse waiver
demonstration. Approximately 22% of these caregivers successfully
completed all required levels of substance abuse
treatment. The multivariate models indicate that age,
employment status, and legal involvement were significantly
associated with the likelihood of completing substance
abuse treatment. Heroin users were significantly less likely
to complete treatment as compared with alcohol, cocaine,
and marijuana users. The findings are discussed in terms
of policy and practice implications for public child welfare
systems.
Illinois
Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Waiver Demonstration
Final Evaluation Report (pdf, 564kb)
This final report is submitted by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
as required by the Terms and Conditions of its child welfare demonstration project with
the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families. The report
covers the period April 2000 to June 2005. The format for this report follows the
requirements for child welfare demonstration projects in the ACF draft Program
Instruction issued February 2001 (Log No. ACYF-CB-PI-2001)
Recovery Coaches and Substance Exposed Births: An Experiment in Child Welfare (doc, 147kb)
ABSTRACT: Substance exposed infants present a major
challenge to child welfare and public health systems. Prenatal substance exposure and continued substance
abuse in the home are associated with a wide range of adverse social, emotional, and developmental outcomes.
Such outcomes include but are not limited to strained parental attachments, child maltreatment, and extended
stays in substitute care settings. The current study focuses on an experimental evaluation of the
effectiveness of recovery coaches in child welfare to prevent new substance exposed births. The sample
includes 931 substance abusing women enrolled in a Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration, 261 in the control
group and 670 in the experimental group. Cox proportional hazards modeling indicates that women in the
experimental group were significantly less likely to be associated with a new substance exposed birth.
Substance Abuse and Child Welfare: Understanding the Problem and
Testing a Response
(ppt): November
2, 2006, Child Advocacy Program, Harvard Law School.
Co-Occurring Problems as Obstacles to Achieving Reunification for
Substance-Involved Child Welfare Families (ppt): March 10,2006,
School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago.
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