ADULT ABUSES HURT U.S. CHILD WELFARE - REPORT

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The child welfare system is completely
overwhelmed and unable to help children because their parents are not being
treated for drug and alcohol problems, a report said on Monday.

The number of abused or neglected children has more than doubled, from 1.4
million in 1986 to more than three million in 1997, according to the study,
headed by Joseph Califano, a former secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare who now heads the Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University.

"A devastating tornado of substance abuse and addiction is tearing through
the nation's child welfare and family court systems, leaving in its path a
wreckage of abused and neglected children, turning social welfare agencies
and courts on their heads, and uprooting the traditional disposition to
keep children with their natural parents," Califano wrote the report.

"This report underscores the urgent need for substantial increases in
funding for treatment and health care for substance-abusing parents and
their children," he told a news conference.

Most experts on drug and alcohol addiction agree it is a physical illness
that must be treated medically, not a moral shortcoming or crime.

Califano said substance abuse causes or worsens seven out of 10 cases of
child abuse or neglect, and children whose parents misuse alcohol or drugs
are three times more likely to be abused.

But while welfare agencies have assigned more time to be spent
investigating neglect and abuse, they were only able to investigate a third
of all cases in 1997.

And the number of families getting in-home services has dropped 58 percent,
from 1.2 million in 1977 to 500,000 in 1994.

Califano's team said substance abuse by parents cost the country $20
billion a year -- half in direct welfare costs and half in lost
productivity, health care, court and social services costs.

A survey of more than 900 child welfare professionals found that 80 percent
say substance abuse worsens most cases of maltreatment of children and 90
percent say alcohol, alone or with drugs, is the main drug of abuse.

Taking children away from their parents does not work, either, Califano
said, because only one in four children available for adoption get adopted.

Children of abusive parents often grow up to be alienated, aggressive and
even violent -- costing society even more, Califano said.

"The best hope of a safe haven for these children is to prevent alcohol and
drug abuse by their parents," the report read.

"We spend more on cosmetic surgery, hairpieces and make-up for men than we
do on child-welfare services of substance- abusing parents. In this nation
we take better care of condors than of children of substance abusing
parents," it added.