Parental Substance Abuse and Child Welfare Outcomes: A Study of Biological Mothers and their Children in Out-of-Home Placement in Allegheny County

This study uses logistic regression to examine whether parental substance abuse makes biological mothers more or less likely to have their children returned home if the children have been removed by the Office of Children, Youth and Families (CYF). CYF handles the executive branch child welfare responsibilities for Allegheny County, which includes the city of Pittsburgh, PA. The sample in this study included children who had been removed from the home for the first time in 2012, and was split by age, creating two models. Parental drug abuse was found to make the child less likely to reunify in both models. Alleged or reported neglect and family structure significantly contributed to the model for children ages 0 to 8. Results for children ages 9 to 17 indicated that if the child was removed from the home due to the child's behavior problem, the child was more likely to reunify.

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Lewis, Courtney

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michael Irwin
• Ann Marie Popp

• Allegheny County
• child welfare
• DHS
• foster care
• substance abuse

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/822

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1838