Substance using parents, foster care, and termination of parental rights: The importance of risk factors for legal outcomes Andrea S. Meyer a, ⁎, Lenore M. McWey a , Wachell McKendrick a , Tammy L. Henderson b a Department of Family and Child Sciences, Sandels Building, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1491, United States b Department of Human Development and Family Science, 233 HES, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-6122, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 14 October 2009 Received in revised form 19 December 2009 Accepted 28 December 2009 Available online 11 January 2010 Keywords: Foster care Alcohol and drug use Termination of parental rights Using mixed methods, we compared appellate court foster care cases where parents' rights were terminated to those in which decisions to terminate parental rights were reversed or remanded to better understand the experiences of parents struggling with alcohol and drug use. A content analysis of 60 cases was conducted; 30 cases in which parental rights were terminated, and 30 where decisions to terminate parental rights were overturned or remanded to the lower court. Parents whose rights were terminated were more likely to have mental health problems and experienced incarceration. In addition, when a composite score of risk factors was analyzed, parents whose rights were terminated had significantly more risk factors. For both groups, poverty was an equally common risk factor. Implications include universal assessments for alcohol and drug abuse for parents involved in the child welfare system and timely referrals to appropriate treatment. Further, collaboration between mental health providers, substance use treatment programs, and caseworkers to address the integration of potential risk factors may help promote successful outcomes for parents whose children are in foster care. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Among parents whose children are in the foster care system, many struggle with alcohol or other drug use (AOD). Famularo, Kinscherff, and Fenton (1992) found that approximately two-thirds of abuse and neglect cases involved a parent with AOD issues. Previous findings show that as many as 80% of families involved with the child welfare system have difficulties relating to parental substance use (Magura & Laudet, 1996; Young, Gardner, & Dennis, 1998). For parents with AOD problems, it is difficult to isolate the relationship between substance use and maltreatment because of the concomitant economic, social, and physical factors (Rittner & Dozier, 2000). The complexity of such risk factors have long daunted researchers and practitioners, and many have called for more research to help understand the interconnectedness of termination of parental rights (TPR) decisions and contextual factors associated with parenting (Azar, Benjet, Fuhrmann, & Cavallero, 1995; Stein, 2000). Therefore the purpose of the current paper is to compare cases where AOD parents' rights were terminated to those in which the decision to TPR was reversed or remanded in order to better understand factors associated with TPR decisions for appealing AOD parents. Research has highlighted a strong link between parents with AOD and child maltreatment (Magura & Laudet, 1996; Smith, Johnson, Pears, Fisher, & DeGarmo, 2007; Young, Boles, & Otero, 2007). Despite this association, very few studies have established a causal relation- ship between parental AOD and later child maltreatment (Chaffin, Kelleher, & Hollenberg, 1996; Young et al., 2007). When combined with homelessness, domestic violence, violence in the community, mental health problems and incarceration, substance use is only one of many concerns for AOD parents (Dore & Doris, 1997). The relationship between AOD and maltreatment may be a reflection of the complex environment in which many children of AOD parents live (Benjet, Azar, & Kuersten-Hogan, 2003). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1999), one-third to two-thirds of families involved in the child welfare system are impacted by substance related disorders. The U.S. General Accounting Office reported that the number of foster children who were placed in substitute care due to parental AOD rose to 78% in 1994 (USGAO, 1994). The same study also indicated that parental AOD was a factor in 78% of children entering foster care in three major urban counties. More recent research by Jones (2005) has found that mothers abused alcohol or drugs in 68% of a child welfare sample, with 37% abusing both alcohol and drugs. Jones utilized retrospective case reviews of substantiated child protective service records in one urban county. Gibbons, Barth, and Martin (submitted for publication) collected data from a national probability sample of children involved in child welfare system. The researchers found that 9.6% of parents had a problem with alcohol or drugs according to case worker reports; however according to assessments completed by parents, 3.9% were alcohol or drug dependent. It is important to note that prevalence Children and Youth Services Review 32 (2010) 639–649 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: ameyer@fsu.edu (A.S. Meyer), lmcwey@fsu.edu (L.M. McWey), wvd02@fsu.edu (W. McKendrick), tammy.henderson@okstate.edu (T.L. Henderson). 0190-7409/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.12.011 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth