Each day, the safety and well-being of children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Many of these children live in homes where substance use disorders create additional and compounding problems. The child welfare and alcohol and drug abuse treatment fields are working to find effective ways to serve families where this overlap occurs. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families is not the responsibility of a single agency or professional group, but rather it is a shared community concern. This book provides a basis for understanding parental substance abuse and its relationship to child maltreatment.

"Children of Substance-Abusing Parents: Dynamics and Treatment" is a necessary reference for all mental health professionals and students who need to understand and treat this population. It offers an invaluable look attreatment options and programmatic interventions across the life span and fills an important gap in the current literature. The contributors include a wide range of experts who provide up-to-date evidence-based clinical and programmatic strategies for working with children of alcohol and other substance-abusing parents of any age and in almost any practice setting. This highly recommended book is a valuable resource for all practitioners and students concerned about this very large, but often hidden group of individuals and families." From the Foreword by Sis Wenger President/CEO National Association for Children of Alcoholics Parental drug abuse and alcoholism have an enormously detrimental impact on children and adolescents. Children whose parents suffer from drug abuse or alcoholism often face multiple physical, mental, and behavioral issues. They are at a greater risk for depression, anxiety, low self esteem, and addiction, and also are known to have poor school attendance, difficulty concentrating, and lower IQ scores. This book offers health care practitioners proactive programs and innovative strategies to use with this vulnerable population. Taking a comprehensive, life course approach, the authors discuss the implications and interventions at the prenatal stage, through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. With this book, social workers and health care practitioners can help assess and intervene with children of substance abusing parents. Key topics: Dynamics in families with substance abusing parents and treatment implications Issues across the life span of children of substance abusing parents Prevention and early intervention programs for pregnant women who abuse substances Programs for young children, adolescents, college students, and children with incarcerated parents

Focusing on the needs of children of substance misusing parents and the dilemmas faced by professionals working with them, this comprehensive book brings together for the first time theoretical and practice issues for all those involved with the crossover between responses to drug and alcohol problems and child welfare. Describing the effects of substance misuse on `good enough' parenting and attachment (and taking into account theories about substance use), the authors analyse the issues facing children, including the impact on psychological and emotional development. Emphasising the importance of developing holistic approaches, involving both child care and drug and alcohol agencies as well as families, this book presents a practical model for risk assessment and intervention that balances the 'competing' needs of parents and their children. It is an essential resource for all those working or training to work in the fields of child welfare, substance misuse, health, education and criminal justice.

Parenting and Substance Abuse is the first book to report on pioneering efforts to move the treatment of substance-abusing parents forward by embracing their roles and experiences as mothers and fathers directly and continually across the course of treatment.

"This manual, Protecting Children in Substance-Abusing Families, is designed for professionals in the fields of child welfare, mental health, health care, education, law, the faith community, and substance abuse prevention and treatment. The manual is intended to help professionals identify the various forms of parental substance abuse, assess the strengths and needs of families affected by alcohol and/or other drug abuse, develop service plans, and provide intervention. The manual includes a section addressing the identification of substance-abusing clients, a review of the characteristics of substance-abusing parents and the risks to children growing up in households in which alcohol and/or other drugs are abused, a discussion of the legal issues related to child maltreatment and parental substance abuse, a description of approaches to family assessment, and a summary of innovative intervention programs and service delivery strategies"--Page ix.