Margaret H. Lloyd

Examining the role of methamphetamine in permanency: A competing risks analysis of reunification, guardianship, and adoption.

Parental methamphetamine use has drawn significant attention in recent years. Despite prior research that shows that parental substance abuse is a risk factor for lengthy foster care stay, little is known about the effect of specific types of substance use on permanency. This study sought to compare the impact of parental methamphetamine use to alcohol use, other drug use, and polysubstance use on the timing of 3 types of permanency: reunification, guardianship, and adoption. Using an entry cohort of 16,620 children who had entered foster care during a 5-year period, competing risks event history models were conducted for each permanency type. Findings showed that, after controlling for several case characteristics, parent illicit drug use significantly impacted the timing of the 3 types of permanency, but alcohol use did not. Methamphetamine, other drug, and polysubstance with methamphetamine use were associated with lower rates of reunification and higher rates of adoption. Guardianship was also predicted by other drug and polysubstance use without methamphetamine; however, methamphetamine use was not associated with guardianship. Notably, the methamphetamine groups comprised the youngest children and had the shortest median time to adoption. Results suggest that type of parental substance use is predictive of permanency exits and that parental illicit drug use may require tailored strategies for improving permanency outcomes. Further implications of the findings are discussed.

Family Drug Courts: Conceptual Frameworks, Empirical Evidence, and Implications for Social Work

Families in the child welfare system who are affected by substance abuse face distinct challenges to achieving reunification. Family drug courts (FDCs), which are child welfare courts based on a therapeutic framework of legal scholarship, arose 2 decades ago as an alternative approach for adjudicating these cases. A comprehensive review of prior empirical research on FDCs is presented to ascertain whether the model is a best practice for this population. The results of this review suggest that children in families that are involved in FDCs spend less time in foster care and are more likely to achieve reunification. This analysis incorporates findings from qualitative literature and undertakes methodological and values-based critiques in order to develop implications for social work research, practice, and policy.

Screening for Substance Use Disorders as a Supplement to Caseworker Assessment Among Foster Care–Involved Families

Parental substance abuse is a major factor in families experiencing foster care placement, yet little is known about the potential of screening in determining risk or identifying subpopulations for which elevated risk occurs. One Midwestern state recently implemented screening. This research uses information gathered as part of the screens implementation to conduct a latent class analysis. The research was extended to provide a detailed examination of differences in child and family characteristics across classes, and to compare the screen results with caseworker impressions. Three distinct typologies emerged, with the high-risk and moderate-risk designations comprising only one quarter of the cases.

Effect of a Parenting Intervention on Foster Care Reentry After Reunification Among Substance-Affected Families: A Quasi-Experimental Study:

Although parental substance abuse has been identified as a risk factor for poor foster care outcomes, current research on effective interventions is limited. A few studies have shown that parenting interventions improved parenting skills and family functioning and decreased time to reunification among children in foster care due to parental substance abuse. However, more research is needed to evaluate whether these interventions positively impact reentry rates. Using propensity score analyses to establish a matched comparison group, survival analyses evaluated the relationship between participation in a parenting intervention, the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), and reentry among a sample of 493 children previously reunified with their parents. The overall reentry rate was 20.9%. Analyses indicated that there was no difference in reentry rates between the SFP (23.7%) and comparison groups (18.6%). Significant predictors of reentry were child behavior problems, family poverty, and reunification between 15 and 18 months from removal.

Unpacking the parallel effects of parental alcohol misuse and low income on risk of supervisory neglect

Although low income status and parent alcohol misuse are considered critical risk factors for child neglect, little is known about the mechanisms of this association. No known research has assessed the parallel effect of each on occurrence of child neglect. This study aimed to explore the direct and indirect effects of parent alcohol misuse and low family income on risk of supervisory neglect through mediating factors such as parent depressive symptoms and low social support. The study used a sample of 2990 parents of children under 13 years old who completed a listed telephone survey conducted in 50 mid-sized cities within California during 2009. We used a structural equation model to estimate the direct and indirect effects of parent alcohol misuse (defined as heavy drinking frequency) and low family income on supervisory neglect toward a focal child, as well as the indirect effect via parental depressive symptoms and low social support. Mediation analysis to capture direct, indirect, and total effects of these two independent variables was also conducted. Results revealed a significant direct effect of low family income on likelihood of supervisory neglect. Low income also exhibited an indirect effect via increased depressive symptoms and low social support. Annual frequency of heavy drinking showed no direct effect on supervisory neglect likelihood, but an indirect effect was observed via increased depressive symptoms and decreased social support. Parent low income and high frequency heavy drinking likely increase risks for supervisory neglect through distinct pathways. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm the pathways identified within this study.

A study in contrasts: Supports and barriers to successful implementation of two evidence-based parenting interventions in child welfare

Although evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are spreading to child welfare, research on real-world dynamics of implementation within this setting is scarce. Using a six-factor implementation framework to examine implementation of two evidence-based parenting interventions, we sought to build greater understanding of key facilitators and barriers by comparing successful versus failed EBI implementation in a child welfare setting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 15 frontline practitioners and state-level managers. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data analysis used a modified analytic approach. Our results showed the successful EBI was viewed more positively on all six factors; however, implementation was multidimensional, multilevel, and mixed with accomplishments and challenges. An accumulation of strengths across implementation factors proved beneficial. Implementation frameworks may be advantageous in organizing and explaining the numerous factors that may influence successful versus failed implementation. While encountering obstacles is largely inevitable, understanding which factors have shaped the success or failure of EBI implementations in child welfare settings may optimize future implementations in this context.

The Intersectional Effects of Race and Gender on Time to Reincarceration

Abstract People of color are disproportionately incarcerated and reincarcerated after release. When compared to women, men of all races report higher rates of recidivism. However, minimal research examines the intersectional effects of race and gender on recidivism. Proportional hazards models estimated the effects of varied risk factors for Black men, White men, Black women, and White women on 8-year recidivism rates among 21,462 incarcerated Black and White men and women. Black men were incarcerated more often and more quickly when compared to all other race/gender groups. However, with two exceptions (age at intake and marital status), Black men had lower risk scores on most variables when compared to other members of the sample. The interaction of race and gender was a potent predictor of time to reincarceration, even when controlling for a range of identified risk factors. Additional research is needed to examine the individual and structural mechanisms that lead to recidivism for Black men beyond hypothesized criminogenic risk.

The Policy to Practice Gap: Factors Associated With Practitioner Knowledge of CAPTA 2010 Mandates for Identifying and Intervening in Cases of Prenatal Alcohol and Drug Exposure

This article describes results from a state-wide survey of social services professionals (n = 259) regarding knowledge of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization of 2010 (CAPTA), clinically based markers of prenatal substance exposure (PSE), and appropriate child protection responses following a PSE referral. Few respondents were aware of CAPTA, and knowledge of clinical markers of PSE and appropriate child protective services responses to prenatal exposure varied according to substance type (alcohol or drugs). Regression models revealed that fewer years in practice and fewer annual drug referrals predicted more drug-exposure knowledge. Fewer years in practice and awareness of CAPTA predicted more alcohol-exposure knowledge. Policy implementation strategies are needed to increase the likelihood that CAPTA achieves its desired intent, particularly with professionals who have been in the field longer and may be less open to changing practice behaviors.

The Forgotten Victims of the War on Drugs: An Analysis of U.S. Drug Policy and Reform From a Child Well-Being Perspective

When assessing the impact of U.S. drug laws on society, one group is often overlooked: children. This policy analysis reviews the data on parental drug involvement, incarceration, and problems of re-entry in order to understand how drug legislation affects children. From this empirical review emerge 10 central “risk to children” themes that provide criteria for conceptualizing and evaluating solutions. The article then presents five types of policy reforms that states have recently enacted and analyzes each according to its ability to mitigate harms to children along the 10 themes. No single drug policy reform effort ameliorates all risk themes, and evidence-based programing for these children is needed to bolster the impact of legislative reforms. Concluding remarks discuss the multiple implications for social work advocacy, practice, and research.

Illuminating the Black Box From Within: Stakeholder Perspectives on Family Drug Court Best Practices

This article describes a mixed-methods, concept mapping study in an urban family drug court (FDC) designed to identify keys to FDC success from stakeholders’ perspectives. Participating FDC team members and clients developed a set of items they deemed integral to an FDC, thematically clustered the items, and then rated their relative importance. Using these data, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling generated 6 themes perceived as contributing to positive outcomes. Resultant concept maps revealed that, compared to team members, clients view relational aspects of the FDC as more important. The findings point to implications for future research and social work practice.