PARENTAL SUBSTANCE ABUSE: Implications for Children, the Child Welfare System, and Foster Care Outcomes GAO/T-HEHS-98-40

Each year, nearly 1 million children in this country are the victims of abuse and neglect by their parents or other caregivers, and parental substance abuse is very often a contributing factor in these cases. Although estimates vary widely, there is considerable literature that suggests that parental substance abuse is involved in the majority of foster care cases in some locations. It is not surprising, therefore, that the nature and effects of parental substance abuse are of concern to this Subcommittee, particularly in light of the dramatic increase in the foster care population, which was estimated to be almost half a million by the end of 1995. Because of your concern, you asked us to discuss the implications of parental substance abuse for children and the child welfare system. You also asked us to comment on permanency planning for foster care cases involving parental substance abuse, given the importance of family reunification. My testimony today is based on our ongoing work for the Senate Committee on Finance and previous work we have done in the child welfare and substance abuse areas. (See Related GAO Products at the end of this statement.) Our ongoing work on the implications of parental substance abuse for foster care primarily consists of reviews of the substance abuse histories and drug treatment experiences of parents, as well as the initiatives that might help achieve timely exits from foster care for cases involving parental substance abuse. Most of the previous work I refer to here involved an extensive review of the case files of representative samples of young foster children—those under 3 years of age—who were in foster care in Los Angeles County, New York City, and Philadelphia County in 1986 and 1991. These locations accounted for a substantial portion of their respective states' populations of young foster children in 1991. 1 Furthermore, over 50 percent of the nation's foster children were under the jurisdiction of these three states in that year. Let me briefly summarize our findings. For many children, it is parental substance abuse that brings them to the attention of the child welfare system. When a newborn has been found to have been prenatally exposed to drugs or alcohol, this often triggers an investigation of suspected child abuse and neglect. In some states, prenatal substance exposure itself 1 In 1991, these locations accounted for 44 percent of young foster children in California; 81 percent …