Parental Drug Use and Family Reunification

Sanmartin et al discuss their study which used the 2000-2017 waves of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting Systems. They identified foster care entries among children removed from their homes because of parental drug use (PDU) and calculated the number of entries for each year. They also identified foster care discharges achieved through parental reunification among children removed from their homes each year. The continued growth in foster care entries involving PDU, along with the low and decreasing reunification rate, highlights the vulnerability of foster children and underlines the impact of the drug epidemic on children and their families. Complementary child welfare sendees, such as mental health and substance abuse prevention sendees and treatment, and post-reunification sendees may play an important role in supporting families and promoting reunification when possible.