Abstract
An important effect of the current opioid epidemic is on children whose parents are unable to provide appropriate care. We employ quarterly, county-level data for California for 2009–2016 to study the relationship between foster care entries and opioid misuse by their parents. Our linear regression analysis includes both county and time fixed effects and controls related to child removal risk. We improve on the limited existing research in the area by analyzing higher frequency data, examining a proximal measure of opioid abuse, and allowing for differential associations by urbanicity. We found a positive association between the rate of child removals and the rate of residents who were cumulatively prescribed a high dose of opioids (>90 morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per day) during the quarter. A one standard deviation in this rate is associated with a roughly 9% increase in the overall removal rate. We further found that the association between removals and high MMEs is especially pronounced in rural areas and largely not existent in urban areas. Our results provide a more precise estimate of the relationship between the potential for opioid misuse and child welfare.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 52-58 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Addictive Behaviors |
| Volume | 93 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The data used in this publication were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and have been used with permission. Data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) were originally collected by the Children's Bureau. Funding for the project was provided by the Children's Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . The collector of the original data, the funder, the Archive, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.
Funding Information:
Dr. Delcher's time was supported by Grant No. 2017-PM-BX-K038 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance . The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
Keywords
- California
- Foster care
- Opioids
- Urbanicity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Clinical Psychology
- Toxicology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
