Working with Substance-affected Parents and Their Children

Tsantefski, Menka; Gruenert, Stefan; Campbell, Lynda

doi:10.4324/9781003118480

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Women using addiction and recovery services report experiencing barriers accessing services and having additional needs related to their family and carer responsibilities, relationships, and mental health issues ( 39 , 43 ). When caring for children, women are more likely to experience isolation due to higher rates of domestic and interpersonal abuse which results in less support with parenting ( 44 , 45 ). There are recommendations that gender specific issues should be acknowledged in addiction and recovery services including the need for single gender support groups, interventions related to trauma, relationships and parenting and the provision of childcare ( 17 , 43 , 46 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Addiction, and Removal of Children Into Care

Russell

Gajwani²,

Turner³

et al. 2022

Front. Psychiatry

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IntroductionParental addiction can result in harm to children and removal of children by the Local Authority. Less is known about the impact of removal of children on their parents and whether gender has a role in this process.MethodsData on 736 service users were obtained from the caseloads of 8 nurses and 12 social care workers from an Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service in Scotland. Gender differences in prevalence/patterns of child removal, associations between child removal and parental factors and the relationship between removal and suicidality were examined.ResultsMothers were more likely to have had one or more children removed compared to fathers (56.6 vs. 17.7%; p < 0.001) and were more likely to have a series of individual child removals (22.5 vs. 4.3%; p = 0.014). In addition to female gender, younger age, drug use, mental health and suicide attempts were also associated with child removal. Mothers who had children removed and women who were not mothers were more likely to have made an attempt to end their lives than women who had children but had not had them removed.ConclusionGender differences were apparent in prevalence and patterns of child removal. Mothers were six times more likely to have children removed compared to fathers. Child removal occurred alongside other risk factors suggesting that families need holistic support for their multiple areas of need. Services should be aware of the link between child removal and suicide and provide additional support to mothers during and after removal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Addiction, and Removal of Children Into Care

Russell

Gajwani²,

Turner³

et al. 2022

Front. Psychiatry

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“…Parental addiction 1 is associated with the potential for serious harm to children throughout the lifespan. Alcohol and drug use during pregnancy has been associated with premature birth, fetal alcohol syndrome, neonatal abstinence syndrome, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and congenital abnormalities (Howe, 2005;Tsantefski et al, 2015). Yet, there are methodological issues when making causal claims about the impact or severity of prenatal exposure as several factors can have an impact including the timing of the exposure, substance used, impact of polysubstance use, and level or frequency of use (Konijnenberg, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In childhood, parental addiction has been associated with children's lower educational attainment, relationship difficulties with peers, emotional and behavioral problems, and poorer child well-being (Alati et al, 2013;Forrester & Harwin, 2007;Guille & Aujla, 2019;Kuppens et al, 2020;Lander et al, 2013;Tsantefski et al, 2015). Children with a parent with addiction issues are estimated to be at a four to tenfold risk of developing an addiction (Howe, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parental addiction has also been linked with child maltreatment with estimates that between 50 and 80% of parents involved with child welfare systems have addiction issues (Tsantefski et al, 2015). Drug use during pregnancy, higher levels of use, stimulant use, injecting drug use, earlier onset of heroin use, recent use (use in last 12 months), and substance related overdose or hospitalization have all been associated with child removal, abuse, or neglect (Canfield et al, 2017;Dube et al, 2001;Ghertner et al, 2018;Kepple, 2017;Prindle et al, 2018;Wall-Wieler et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Depending on the substance used, information processing speed, problem solving-abilities, coordination, and reflective capacities can all be affected (Howe, 2005). The ability to regulate emotions can also be impaired (Tsantefski et al, 2015). This then affects parents' ability to assess and manage risk, be able to sensitively attune and respond to their child, and can make parents more likely to be irritable, angry, or distressed around their children and, in turn, unable to model or help their children to regulate their emotions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where Are the Children?: Addiction Workers’ Knowledge of Clients’ Offspring and Related Risks

Russell

Gajwani

Turner

et al. 2023

Int. Journal on Child Malt.

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Parental substance use can harm and increase risk to children. Accurate reporting and monitoring by addiction staff is essential to support and protect families and children. The caseloads of 8 nurses and 12 social care workers (736 service users) were reviewed for offspring related information. 62.8% of service users were parents, 38.3% of those being parents of children aged 16 years and under. Data were available on 913 offspring, 475 (52%) aged 16 or under. 32% of the total offspring sample, and of the 16 and under sample, lived with a family member who was not the parent receiving treatment and had no social work involvement. Seven offspring (0.8%) were deceased—a two-fold increase in mortality rate compared to the general population, highlighting the increased risk of harm experienced by the offspring of this group of parents. In the records of 53 parents (11.5%; 68 children), there was a discrepancy between the electronic records and staff knowledge about children aged 16 and under. Of these 68 children, 56 (11.8%) were recorded on the electronic system but not reported by the care manager, and 12 (2.5%) were only reported by the care manager but were not recorded on the electronic system. Worryingly, there might also be children who are neither on electronic systems nor known to staff. Due to these discrepancies in recording and the increased risks to these children, we recommend that addiction staff routinely asks service users if they are parents and who provides care for their children.

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Working with Substance-affected Parents and Their Children

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Gender, Addiction, and Removal of Children Into Care

Gender, Addiction, and Removal of Children Into Care

Where Are the Children?: Addiction Workers’ Knowledge of Clients’ Offspring and Related Risks

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