Coexisting child neglect and drug abuse in young mothers: specific recommendations for treatment based on a review of the outcome literature.

Although perpetrators of child neglect often abuse illicit substances, treatment outcome evaluations in drug-abusing young mothers who have been found to neglect their children are conspicuously absent. Problem-solving interventions and family-based therapies that include skill acquisition components have demonstrated effectiveness in substance-abusing adolescents and child-neglecting mothers. The purpose of this article is (a) to review studies that have examined the relationship of drug abuse and child neglect, (b) to review clinical treatments that appear to be effective in both perpetrators of child neglect and drug-abusing adolescents, and (c) to integrate empirically validated drug abuse and child neglect interventions for use in adolescent mothers who have been found to abuse drugs and neglect their children.