Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Colloquia Series The Opioid Crisis and the US Foster Care System: New Evidence on State Level Policy Initiatives Impacting Children entering the Foster Care System With María X. Sanmartín (Department of Health Professions, Hofstra University)
Wednesday, October 28, 2020 | 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. https://hofstra.zoom.us/j/99442902438?pwd=M3RybDAyay9rOEYvYmRSZ2ZVM2l6dz09 Recent estimate suggests that about 2.7 million children younger than two years of age are living with at least one parent with a substance use disorder. This has been compounded by the opioid crisis, which has disproportionately affected parenting and pregnant women. To date, states have enacted various types of prenatal substance use policies to address opioid use among parenting/pregnant women. However, a significant number of states have adopted punitive approaches to reduce prenatal opioid use. In spite of the alarming rise of opioid misuse among parenting/pregnant women, little has been done to understand the effect of these criminal justice policies on foster care admissions. This omission is a crucial limitation in the policy evaluation framework given evidence that the opioid crisis is overwhelming the U.S. foster care system as states are experiencing a significant increase in the number of children being taken out of the custody of their parents or entering the child welfare system due to parental drug use. We will explore how these state-level criminal justice oriented prenatal substance use policies might be impacting the number of children entering the foster care system and potential reunification with their parents.