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

Abstract

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.

Types of Substance Use and Punitive Parenting: A Preliminary Exploration

“…That being said, comorbid alcohol and marijuana use in the past year was associated with a mean annual frequency for physical abuse that was 0.5 times higher than past-year drinking without marijuana use, further highlighting the particular importance of polysubstance use for physically abusive behaviors (as indicated by association with drug number) and aligning with prior work looking at the influence of polysubstance use identification in child welfare samples (Akin et al, 2015;Lloyd & Akin, 2014). It also may be that parents who choose to refrain from past-year marijuana use after a prior history of use have unmeasured experiences or psychosocial traits that can be attributed to the lower-observed frequencies for current drinkers who report lifetime marijuana use, but none in the past year.…”

“…In contrast, methamphetamine use is associated with known impairments in global neuropsychological functioning and high levels of affective distress, which can contribute to polarized parenting strategies (i.e., extreme feelings of anger or apathy) and relational violence in the home (Brown & Hohman, 2006;Iudicello et al, 2010). However, very little empirical work has focused on methamphetamine use specific to parenting in a general population sample, with most focusing on child exposure to manufacturing the drug (Hohman, Oliver, & Wright, 2004) or child welfare outcomes (Akin, Brook, & Lloyd, 2015). For other drugs such as opioids, studies focused primarily on child welfare or clinical treatment populations (McGlade, Ware, & Crawford, 2009).…”

“…Even less is known about how drug type is related comparatively to punitive parenting (e.g., alcohol vs. methamphetamines), with most studies focused on reunification outcomes in child welfare (Akin et al, 2015) and drug treatment populations (Grella, Needell, Shi, & Hser, 2009;Slesnick, Feng, Brakenhoff, & Brigham, 2014). For example, parental use of methamphetamines, other illicit drugs, or polysubstance use (but not alcohol) compared with no alcohol/drug use was associated with lower rates of reunification and higher rates of adoption (Akin et al, 2015). Additionally, mothers in drug treatment who primarily used heroin or other opiates were less likely to reunify with their children compared with those who primarily used alcohol (Grella et al, 2009).…”

Parent perspectives of engagement in the strengthening families program: An evidence‐based intervention for families in child welfare and affected by parental substance use

“…This study aimed to use parent perspectives to understand how barriers and supports to parents' meaningful engagement in the program and their eventual completion of the program. Given the negative consequences of parental substance use and lengthy foster care stays (Akin, Brook & Lloyd, ; Haight et al, ; Haight et al, ; Hohman et al, ; Testa & Smith, ), it is imperative to improve upon programs for this target population. This study contributes to the empirical literature on EBPIs by providing an understanding of how parents perceive these programs.…”

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

“…Although the average difference in Knowledge Scale scores was only one point, this may reflect a meaningful and consequential tendency among practitioners to focus on certain substances while ignoring others. For example, we know from earlier research that child welfare-involved professionals respond differently to cases involving different drugs of abuse (i.e., methamphetamine compared to other illegal drugs) (Akin, Brook, & Lloyd, 2015; Brook, McDonald, Gregoire, Press, & Hindman, 2010; Lloyd & Akin, 2014). In fact, children in foster care due to parental alcohol abuse experience identical outcomes to children without any parental substance abuse, but children with parental drug abuse spend significantly longer time in foster care and are significantly less likely to return home (Akin et al, 2015; Brook et al, 2010; Lloyd & Akin, 2014).…”