Impact of Parental Substance Abuse on Child Abuse

KidsCampaign (1998), a national foster care organization, reported that of all the recent trends in child welfare, perhaps none has been more troubling than the increase in cases of child abuse and neglect resulting from parental abuse of alcohol and drugs. In this regard, the organization states that nearly 3.1 million American children are, each year, reported to child protective services as abused or neglected; and substance abuse was found to be a factor in a majority of these cases.

It is further reported by the organization that research conducted by the Child Welfare League of America and other organizations have found that substance abuse to be a factor in at least 75 percent of all placements in out-of-home care. It is also noted that:

Eighty percent of states now report that parental abuse of alcohol or drugs is one of the two most common problems in families reported for child maltreatment (p. 1).

The foregoing statistics highlight the need for understanding the problem of parental substance abuse and its general impact on child abuse. The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on the effects of parental abuse of drugs and alcohol on child abuse. Topics covered in the paper include the historical background of the problem, theoretical perspectives, and prevention and intervention strategies that have been used to remediate the problem. The review ends with a brief summary of

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e to the substance abuse and the resulting child abuse. In this regard, Papalia and Olds (1995) note that over 90 percent of abusers have been found to be lonely, unhappy, depressed, angry and dissatisfied people. They usually live in socially isolated families and are under a great deal of stress from factors such as unemployment, job dissatisfaction, chronic financial hardship and marital conflict. As a result of these factors, these people turn to drugs and/or alcohol as a means of relieving stress. However, the authors report that the substances (especially alcohol) operate to make their lack of control and power over their lives more salient to them; moreover, they release the abusers' inhibitions. The result is that these people lash out at their children in a misplaced effort to substitute gaining control over them with regaining control over their lives. Halpern (1997) provides a comprehensive report on interventions for use with substance abusing and child abusing families, noting that both behaviors are related to the stress associated with such factors as: chronic financial and material hardship, vulnerable and overwhelmed parents, overburdened social support networks, and a unsupportive community context. Halpern
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Approximate Word count = 2027
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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