Meinhofer Angélica, Onuoha Erica, Angleró-Díaz Yohanis, Keyes Katherine M
Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY.
Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Child Youth Serv Rev. 2020 Nov;118. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105336. Epub 2020 Aug 8.
Following nearly a decade of entry declines, foster care entries in the United States began to rise steadily since 2012, largely because of dramatic increases in home removals involving parental drug use (PDU). America's ongoing opioid crisis and recent changes in drug policies have been associated with the growth in PDU entries. The extent to which these and other recent factors have affected historical racial/ethnic differences in the foster care system is unknown. We explored the prevalence of racial/ethnic disproportionality and disparity in PDU entries and described children characteristics across racial/ethnic populations.
Secondary data analysis of the universe of foster care entries in 2008-2017, obtained from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.
Children ages 0-17 entering foster care in the United States.
A total of 2,489,423 foster care entries, 29% (N=714,085) designated as involving PDU.
The rate of PDU entries was measured as the number of foster care entries involving PDU per 1,000 children ages 0-17 in the general population, by racial/ethnic group. Disproportionality in PDU entries was measured as the proportion of a racial/ethnic group among PDU entries over their proportion among the general population.
From 2008-2017, the rate of PDU entries increased 71% in the general population and across all racial/ethnic groups. Native American children displayed the highest level and fastest growth in PDU entry rates (139%; 1.74 in 2008 to 4.15 in 2017), followed by non-Hispanic White children (112%; 0.70 in 2008 to 1.49 in 2017). Native American children also displayed the highest level of disproportionality in foster care entries, with a representation in PDU entries and other entries about 3.23 and 2.56 times their representation in the general population.
Foster care entries involving PDU increased considerably across all racial/ethnic populations. Growth in PDU entries was greatest among Native American children, exacerbating existing disproportionalities in the foster care system for this vulnerable population.
在美国，寄养儿童的数量在经历了近十年的下降后，自2012年开始稳步上升，这主要是由于涉及父母吸毒（PDU）的家庭分离情况急剧增加。美国持续的阿片类药物危机以及近期的毒品政策变化与因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童数量增长有关。目前尚不清楚这些因素以及其他近期因素在多大程度上影响了寄养系统中历史上存在的种族/民族差异。我们探讨了因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童在种族/民族方面不成比例和存在差异的情况，并描述了不同种族/民族群体中儿童的特征。
对2008 - 2017年寄养儿童数据进行二次数据分析，数据来源于收养与寄养分析及报告系统。
美国0 - 17岁进入寄养系统的儿童。
共有2,489,423例寄养儿童记录，其中29%（N = 714,085）被认定涉及父母吸毒。
父母吸毒导致的寄养儿童进入率的计算方式为，每1000名0 - 17岁普通儿童中因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童数量，按种族/民族群体划分。父母吸毒导致的寄养儿童进入比例失调的衡量标准是，某一种族/民族群体在因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童中所占比例与其在普通人群中所占比例的比值。
2008 - 2017年，普通人群以及所有种族/民族群体中，因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童比例均增长了71%。美国原住民儿童因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的比例最高，且增长速度最快（增长了139%；从2008年的1.74增长到2017年的4.15），其次是非西班牙裔白人儿童（增长了112%；从2008年的0.70增长到2017年的1.49）。美国原住民儿童在寄养儿童进入比例失调方面也最为严重，在因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童以及其他进入寄养系统的儿童中，其占比分别约为普通人群的3.23倍和2.56倍。
所有种族/民族群体中因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童数量都大幅增加。美国原住民儿童中因父母吸毒而进入寄养系统的儿童数量增长最为显著，这加剧了这个弱势群体在寄养系统中现有的比例失调问题。
