Behavioral and Substance Use Outcomes for Older Youth Living With a Parental Opioid Misuse: A Literature Review to Inform Child Welfare Practice and Policy

ABSTRACT

The United States has seen a crisis in the use and abuse of opioids since 2000 that has had impacts for the health care, criminal justice, and child welfare systems. After more than a decade of declines in out-of-home care placements, the increases in the last half of this decade may be attributed to parental misuse of opioids. While much is known about infants who are born drug exposed and the ramifications for child welfare practice and policy, less is known about children who grow up in homes with parental misuse of opioids. This study is a descriptive literature review that aims to provide child welfare practitioners with information on the behavioral and substance abuse outcomes for older children and youth who live with parents who have an opioid use disorder. Implications of this body of research may aid in developing appropriate assessment and intervention tools for youth who present for services from opioid-involved homes.

KEYWORDS:

• Opioids
• child welfare
• substance abuse

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge Nicole Bates, Master of Social Work candidate, for her support in preparation of this manuscript.

Notes

¹ We use the term opioid use disorder throughout the manuscript to reflect the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V) naming conventions. Many of the studies under review used the term opioid dependence as they were published prior to the DSM V.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cory Morton

Cory Morton, Ph.D, M.S.W. is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of New Hampshire where he teaches courses in research methods, statistics, and social welfare policy. Dr. Morton is interested in the prevention of child maltreatment through a focus on structuring communities to support family well-being. This research includes an investigation of how various features of the built environment (i.e. alcohol outlet density, social service array) are associated with rates of child abuse and neglect and how to best serve child welfare involved families impacted by substance misuse.

Melissa Wells

Melissa Wells, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of New Hampshire. She teaches courses in statistics, program evaluation, child maltreatment, and school social work. Her research examines juvenile victimization within families and online, with an emphasis on child protective service systems. She received her MSW from the University of Minnesota Duluth and her BA and Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire.