Substance using parents, foster care, and termination of parental rights: The importance of risk factors for legal outcomes

Meyer, Andrea S.; McWey, Lenore M.; McKendrick, Wachell; Henderson, Tammy L.

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.12.011

Cited by 42 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Child maltreatment often involves parents with low parental skills and an inadequate capacity to provide for a child's needs, accompanied by a range of psychosocial problems in the family (Azar et al 1995;Meyer et al 2010;Wattenberg et al 2001). Parental cooperation with social services (SS) in maltreatment cases is a key factor in order to carry out effective family intervention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

Ben‐David¹

2016

J Child Fam Stud

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Parental cooperation with social services in child maltreatment cases is fundamental to all forms of family intervention. If rehabilitation efforts fail and the child cannot be safely reunified with his parents, the state is authorized to initiate termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings. Given the scant literature on parental cooperation and TPR, the present study examined associations between parental cooperation and TPR in Israeli court cases of child maltreatment. Comparisons between uncooperative (n = 106) and cooperative parents (n = 155) revealed that uncooperative parents were more than three times more likely to have their parental rights terminated than cooperative parents, controlling for child and parent characteristics. Parents who did not cooperate with social services had high levels of mental health problems, substance abuse, criminal records, and poverty and their children had more mental health concerns and suffered more from neglect. We discuss the important implications resulting from these findings, which include: the need to view the engagement of parents in the child welfare process as a specific goal in itself and develop research-based models specifically targeting multiple-problem families at high risk of TPR; the need for professionals to build a good working alliance with parents in order to strengthen their participation; the need to take into account different background conditions and stressors related to the parents in order to facilitate greater cooperation; and the need to assess the potential mental health needs of children involved in cases of maltreatment with low parental cooperation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The research literature on termination of parental rights is limited (Azar et al 1995;Benjet et al 2003;Jellinek et al 1992;Meyer et al 2010;Noonan and Burke 2005). Even more limited is the literature on parental cooperation with SS and the legal outcome of termination of parental rights (Fauth et al 2010;Littell 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

Ben‐David¹

2016

J Child Fam Stud

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“…Special professional efforts should be made to coordinate treatment for drug-abusing parents, given that parents with drug problems who enter the child welfare system often face difficulty securing access to needed treatment (Green, Rockhill, & Furrer, 2007). To increase the chance for treatment compliance, a program suited for the specific needs of the parents should be found, although this could present some challenge (Meyer et al, 2010). Efforts should be made to help parents not just access treatment, but also secure care for the child while the parent is in treatment, for example, by helping the parents to find day care or to get help from extended family members.…”

Section: Implications Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Given the high incidence of mental illness among parents who are involved with the child welfare system (e.g., Drake et al, 2006;Meyer et al, 2010;Sidebotham et al, 2006), providing parents with mental health services is a necessity. Specifically, mental health professionals specializing in treatment of personality disorders would be a good fit for abusive parents and those specializing in treatment of mental illness could benefit neglecting parents.…”

Section: Implications Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Focus on Neglect: Comparing the Characteristics of Children and Parents in Cases of Neglect, Abuse, and Non-CAN (Child Abuse and Neglect) in Israeli Rulings on Termination of Parental Rights

Ben‐David

2016

Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma

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This study attempts to expand the knowledge base about neglect by comparing the characteristics of children and parents involved in termination of parental rights proceedings in the Israeli legal system. Cases were classified as neglect (72.7%), abuse (19%) or non-child abuse or neglect (non-CAN; 8%) and were compared on a range of variables. The results show that neglected children have the most developmental problems, and generally come from single-parent families, compared to abused children, who suffer the most mental health problems and come from 2-parent families. Finally, neglect is associated with the mother's history of drug abuse, and abuse is associated with the father's drug abuse and criminal record. In non-CAN cases, the courts criticize the Child Protective Service more than in neglect and abuse cases. Implications of the findings for social work practice as well as future research directions are discussed. ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…The metareview examined studies of 75 data sets. 86 The dearth of studies is evident in the leading journals focusing on the children protection system, such as this journal, Children and Youth Services Review, Child Maltreatment, Child Welfare, or the Journal of Public Child Welfare. 84 The other studies did not focus on the law as a possible explanation for removals.…”

Section: Many Empirical Studies But a Dearth Of Efforts To Study mentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Protection Law as an Independent Variable

Gupta-Kagan

2016

Family Court Review

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Child protection professionals work in a multidisciplinary system in which the law and the family court play central roles and which collects an increasing amount of data. Yet we know little about what impact the law has on whether a child is removed by child protective services, is deemed neglected by a family court, or reunifies with a parent. Do state‐to‐state variations in child protection laws, or changes by individual states to their laws, lead to different outcomes for children and families? The dramatic variations in child welfare practice from one state to another suggest that legal variations do matter. Yet empirical research on these questions is scarce both because we collect too little data to measure all such issues, and, because we have failed to study the data we do have. This article is a plea for researchers to rectify that problem and for policymakers to improve data collection. Doing so would facilitate a more clear understanding of the law's effect on child protection outcomes and aid policymakers and advocates in identifying both promising and problematic practices and legal reforms.

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Substance using parents, foster care, and termination of parental rights: The importance of risk factors for legal outcomes

Cited by 42 publications

References 58 publications

Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

A Focus on Neglect: Comparing the Characteristics of Children and Parents in Cases of Neglect, Abuse, and Non-CAN (Child Abuse and Neglect) in Israeli Rulings on Termination of Parental Rights

Child Protection Law as an Independent Variable

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