ABSTRACT

Many parents who interact with the child welfare system present with substance use issues, which means their children are at risk for prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs. Because child welfare agencies play an important role in identifying and providing services to mitigate negative impacts of prenatal exposures, we conducted a search for literature addressing child welfare information sources, policies, and practices related to this population. The search yielded 16 research/evaluation and 16 policy/practice papers, with most addressing exposures to both alcohol and other drugs. The literature most commonly reports that children identified as exposed are referred to child protection agencies during the newborn period. This practice may lead to underidentification, especially of children with prenatal exposure to alcohol. Research suggests that this population is at risk for poorer child welfare outcomes and that there are specific service needs for these children. This review indicates that there is an overall lack of research literature regarding identification of prenatally exposed children involved in the child welfare system that could best inform child welfare policies and practices. Studies investigating how the child welfare system identifies and cares for children with prenatal exposures are needed.

摘要

许多与儿童福利系统互动的父母都存在物质使用问题，这意味着他们的孩子有产前接触酒精和其他药物的风险。由于儿童福利机构在识别和提供服务以减轻产前暴露的负面影响方面发挥着重要作用，因此我们搜索了与该人群相关的儿童福利信息来源、政策和实践的文献。搜索产生了 16 篇研究/评估和 16 篇政策/实践论文，其中大多数涉及酒精和其他药物的暴露。最常见的文献报道称，被确定为暴露的儿童在新生儿期被转介给儿童保护机构。这种做法可能导致识别不足，尤其是产前接触酒精的儿童。研究表明，这一人群面临儿童福利结果较差的风险，并且这些儿童有特定的服务需求。该审查表明，总体上缺乏关于识别参与儿童福利系统的产前暴露儿童的研究文献，这些文献可以最好地为儿童福利政策和实践提供信息。需要研究儿童福利系统如何识别和照顾产前暴露的儿童。