TREATING THE PROBLEM

More than half of all Florida parents accused of abusing or neglecting
their children are hooked on drugs or alcohol.

Yet only a handful ever receive treatment, and even fewer complete it.
State leaders need to get serious about giving substance-abusing parents
real help in kicking their habits.

Until they do, Florida won't reduce the incidence of child abuse in a
sustained way.

In 39 child abuse and neglect cases recently reviewed by the staff of the
Florida Senate Children and Families Committee, 23 involved a parent on drugs.

Only seven of those parents were admitted for drug treatment, and just
three successfully finished the program.

As in most substance-abuse cases, Department of Children and Families
caseworkers took longer than usual in deciding whether to reunify these
families. In the end, they did so a mere 17 percent of the time - compared
with 64 percent when drugs were not an issue.

State leaders aren't oblivious to the problem, but their efforts to address
it have been halfhearted. The Legislature has spent a modest sum on
expanding treatment, including $5-million for "family intervention
specialists" in each DCF district to work with substance- abusing parents.

But the money has met only a fraction of the need. Committee staff found
that even the specialists spend too much of their limited time and money
documenting a parent's drug habit (through urinalysis testing), rather than
helping the parent break it. Years after being told by lawmakers to do so,
DCF still does not track and evaluate its services for substance-abusing
parents.

"[T]he significant gap between the numbers of parents identified as needing
substance abuse services and the number of parents actually... receiving
the treatment indicates that further improvements are needed in order to
achieve better outcomes for children and families with substance abuse
issues," the staff concluded in November.

Substance-abusing parents, especially those who mistreat or neglect their
children, aren't a sympathetic group.

But there are many reasons beyond sympathy to help these parents get back
on track.

With treatment, parents stand a better chance of maintaining jobs and
regaining their confidence along with custody of their children. Without
it, their children are likely to stay in foster care - at taxpayers'
expense - where their chances of growing into healthy and productive adults
decline dramatically.