Congress hears how parental heroin abuse affects children

A House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday heard testimony on a number of innovative programs that states are using to slow the number of youngsters entering the foster care system because of abuse or neglect by their drug-addicted parents.

An estimated 400,000 children are in foster care nationwide. In 2014, nearly 92,000 youngsters, or 26 percent of all children found to be abused or neglected that year, had parents or caregivers who abused drugs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The problem has only worsened as the nation’s heroin and prescription opioid crisis has exploded.

At Wednesday’s hearing before the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, Chairman Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said the problem had hit hard in Manatee County, which is the epicenter of Florida’s heroin problem.

In Manatee, a total of 388 children in Manatee County were sheltered in out-of-home placements primarily due to substance abuse during the first eight months of 2015.

The committee, which oversees federal spending for foster care programs and child welfare grants, is considering several proposals that would steer more foster care funds into services to help stop abuse and neglect and keep troubled families together.

“These reforms would encourage states to support programs that better address parental substance abuse and other issues, as well as implement programs that have proven their effectiveness in addressing the needs of parents and their children,” Buchanan said at the hearing.

A promising program that several states are exploring is Hillsborough County’s use of data mining to identify Tampa Bay-area children under child welfare supervision who are most at risk for serious injury or death.

The effort is led by Eckerd Kids, a nonprofit that took over the child welfare system in Hillsborough County in 2012 after nine children under welfare supervision had died over a three-year period.

Using predictive analytics provided by MindShare Technology of Tampa, officials identified common factors in the case files of the children who died: a child under the age of 3, a parent with a live-in paramour, intergenerational abuse and a history of illegal drug use.

Providing these at-risk families with intensive case management and other services appears to have paid off.

“The results have been promising,” said Bryan Lindert, senior quality director at Eckerd Kids. “In Hillsborough, there were no maltreatment fatalities in the three-year period following implementation of the program.”

The data mining and case management system, known as “Eckerd Rapid Safety Feedback,” is being studied for possible use in Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine and Oklahoma, Lindert testified.

Lindert and several other witnesses said more federal funds were needed to provide and implement this and other kinds of new programming.

Marlo Nash, senior vice president of public policy and mobilization at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, agreed.

“Congress can make a big difference in the face of this crisis by financing early interventions, like substance abuse treatment for parents, that work to keep kids with their families,” said a statement from Nash. “We thank Rep. Buchanan for seeking solutions that recognize that healthy families are vital to ensuring that all children thrive.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Congress hears how parental heroin abuse affects children."