Punishing parents: Child removal in the context of drug use

Abstract

New amendments to child welfare policy in New South Wales turn a spotlight on parents who use drugs and raise concerns about adequate provision of services for families facing issues with alcohol and other drug use. Sections of the new legislation are explicitly focused on parents who use illicit drugs, expanding the reach of child protection services over expectant parents during pregnancy. This targeting of women who are 'addicted' highlights the ambiguous scientific and moral attention to drug use in pregnancy. It also raises practical questions about the potential for the legislation to increase stigma towards drug use and disproportionately affect vulnerable and disadvantaged families.

Parents and substance use

“…Another strand of scholarship has highlighted that although parental substance use is often framed as the cause of a number of problems, such as poor child development and family functioning, it rarely occurs in isolation (Banwell & Bammer, 2006;Boyd, 1999;Broadhurst & Mason, 2013;N. Campbell, 2000;Dawe, Harnett, Rendalls, & Staiger, 2003;Olsen, 2014). These studies establish that the causes and consequences of parental substance use are multifactorial, inter-related and often cumulative.…”

Changes in assumption of care and primary drug use in substance use in pregnancy service

“…In 2015, the Child Protection Legislation Amendment Act 2014 was introduced which sought to expand Parental Responsibility Contracts to include expectant women, court issued Parental Capacity Orders and streamlining of open adoptions in the context of NSW having the highest rate of child protection notifications (61%) and the highest level of child protection activity [3].The implementation of this amendment Act (enacted in March 2015) appears to coincide temporarily with a decrease in the numbers of assumption of care decrease noted in 2015 (17.4%, 16/92) at JHH which may be attributed to the working relationship that exists between child protection services (such as FAC and Mayfield High Risk infant team) and community outpatient teams. In addition, there is continued support for new mothers from midwives and social workers for a period of 4-8 weeks postpartum to provide monitoring for the babies' general growth and development as well as assessment of NAS (neonatal abstinence syndrome).…”

Substance Misuse–Related Parental Child Maltreatment

“…Globally, it is estimated that in 2013, approximately 246 million (i.e., one person in every 20 people) aged between 15 and 64 years used drugs, approximately 200,000 users died, one in 10 suffered from a drug-related health issue (e.g., hepatitis C, tuberculosis, endocarditis, paranoia, suicide ideation, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder), and 41% engaged in high-risk sexual behaviors (Shi et al, 2015; Straussner & Fewell, 2015; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). In Australia, the country where this study was conducted, approximately 10% of all children live in households where parental drug or alcohol use is problematic, and 50% to 80% of parents who come to the notice of child protection workers have substance-use issues (i.e., the misuse of alcohol, prescription, and illicit drugs) (Hamilton, 2015; Olsen, 2015). The existing parallel body of criminological literature reveals that 62% to 87% of people arrested for criminal offenses test positive for drugs (Calhoun, Conner, Miller, & Messina, 2015).…”