Fact Sheet 3—Research Studies on the Prevalence of Substance Use Disorders in the Child Welfare Population

Despite the recent attention to the prevalence of parental substance use disorders among the families in child welfare services, there are few national data on the number of children in foster care due to parental substance use disorders. Studies that have examined the prevalence of substance abuse among the child welfare population have found widely varying rates. Estimates range from 40% to 80% of families involved with child welfare having substance abuse problems, although no established methods are available to measure this nationally (Young, Gardner, & Dennis, 1998; Semidei, Radel, & Nolan, 2001). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in its Report to Congress in 1999 (DHHS, 1999) stated that between one-third and two-thirds of children in the child welfare system were affected by substance use disorders. They attributed the lower number to those cases in which children were not removed from the parents’ care and the larger percentage to those cases in which children were placed in protective custody.