National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Child Abuse Negl. 2013 Aug;37(8):500-10. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.01.003. Epub 2013 Feb 19.
Although a high level of involvement with the child protection system has been identified in families where parental substance use is a feature, not all such parents abuse or neglect their children or have contact with the child protection system. Identifying parents with substance-use histories who are able to care for their children without intervention by the child protection system, and being able to target interventions to the families who need them the most is important. This study interviewed a relatively large sample of mothers about their histories, their children and their involvement with the child protection system. We hypothesized that mothers in opioid pharmacological treatment who are involved with child protection services are different in characteristics to those mothers who are not involved.
One hundred and seventy-one women, with at least one child aged under 16 years, were interviewed at nine treatment clinics providing pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence across Sydney, Australia.
Just over one-third of the women were involved with child protection services at the time of interview, mostly with children in out-of-home care. Logistic regression analyses revealed that factors which significantly increased the likelihood of the mother being involved with the child protection system were: (1) having a greater number of children, (2) being on psychiatric medication, and (3) having less than daily contact with her own parents.
This study replicates and extends the work of Grella, Hser, and Huang (2006) and the limited literature published to date examining the factors which contribute to some substance-using mothers becoming involved with the child protection system while others do not. The finding that mental health problems and parental supports (along with the number of children) were significantly associated with child protection system involvement in this study, indicates a need for improved interventions and the provision of treatment and support services if we are to reduce the involvement of the child protection system with these families.
尽管在父母滥用药物的家庭中，与儿童保护系统的高度介入已经得到了确认，但并非所有此类父母都会虐待或忽视他们的孩子，或与儿童保护系统有接触。识别出有药物使用史但能够在没有儿童保护系统干预的情况下照顾孩子的父母，并能够将干预措施针对最需要的家庭，这一点很重要。本研究对大量母亲进行了访谈，了解她们的病史、子女情况以及与儿童保护系统的接触情况。我们假设，在接受阿片类药物治疗并与儿童保护服务机构有联系的母亲与那些没有联系的母亲在特征上有所不同。
在澳大利亚悉尼的九个治疗诊所中，对 171 名至少有一名 16 岁以下子女的女性进行了访谈，这些诊所提供治疗阿片类药物依赖的药理学治疗。
略多于三分之一的女性在接受采访时与儿童保护服务机构有联系，主要是与不在家中照顾的孩子有关。逻辑回归分析显示，母亲与儿童保护系统有联系的可能性显著增加的因素包括：（1）有更多的孩子；（2）正在服用精神科药物；（3）与自己父母的日常接触较少。
本研究复制并扩展了 Grella、Hser 和 Huang（2006）的工作以及迄今为止发表的关于导致一些滥用药物的母亲与儿童保护系统有关联而另一些母亲没有的有限文献。本研究发现心理健康问题和父母支持（以及孩子的数量）与儿童保护系统的介入显著相关，这表明需要改进干预措施，并提供治疗和支持服务，如果我们要减少这些家庭与儿童保护系统的介入。
