Child Welfare Information Gateway
Skip to main content
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  • Administration for Children & Families
  • Children's Bureau
Child Welfare Information Gateway
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   

Home Topics Publications Library State Resources More Tools & Resources News & Events
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Free Subscriptions
  • Resources in Spanish
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Resources in Spanish
  • Shopping Cart
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Family-Centered Practice
      • Philosophy and Key Elements of Family-Centered Practice
      • Family-Centered Practice Across the Service Continuum
      • Engaging Families
      • Family-Centered Casework Practice
      • Family Group Decision-Making
      • Engaging Communities to Support Families
      • Creating a Family-Centered Agency Culture
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Definitions of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Identification of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Risk Factors That Contribute to Child Abuse and Neglect
      • People Who Engage in Child Abuse or Neglect
      • Impact of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Child Abuse & Neglect Fatalities
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
      • Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
      • Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs
      • Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
      • Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
      • Evidence-Based Practice for Child Abuse Prevention
      • Evaluating Prevention Programs
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Introduction to Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
      • Assessment in Child Protection
      • Differential Response in Child Protective Services
      • Child Protection Casework Practice
      • Responding to Child Maltreatment Near Fatalities and Fatalities
      • Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
      • Collaborative Responses to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
      • Supporting Families With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
      • Introduction to Family Support and Preservation
      • In-Home Services Involved With Child Protection
      • Family Support Services
      • Resources for Managers of Family Support and Preservation Services
      • Family Preservation Services
    • Out-of-Home Care
      • National Foster Care Month
      • Overview: Out-of-Home Care
      • Foster Care
      • Group and Residential Care
      • Kinship Care
      • Casework Practice in Out-of-Home Care
      • Transition to Adulthood and Independent Living
      • Placement Decisions
      • Resources for Foster Families
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Overview: Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Reunifying Families
      • Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families
      • Permanency With Relatives and Kin
      • Guardianship
      • Permanency for Specific Youth Populations
      • Legal and Court Issues in Permanency
      • Interjurisdictional Placements
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families in Permanency Planning
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families After Permanency
      • Resources for Administrators and Managers About Permanency
      • Resources for Families About Permanency
    • Adoption
      • National Adoption Month
      • Children's Bureau Adoption Call to Action
      • All-In Foster Adoption Challenge
      • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
      • Introduction to Adoption
      • Ethical Issues in Adoption
      • For Adopted People
      • For Adoption Program Managers & Administrators
      • For Expectant Parents Considering Adoption and Birth Parents
      • How to Adopt
      • Laws Related to Adoption
      • Parenting After Adoption
      • Postplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Search & Reunion in Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
      • Administering & Managing Child Welfare Agencies & Programs
      • Child Welfare Practice Improvement
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Ethical Practice & Client Rights
      • Evaluating Program and Practice Effectiveness
      • Funding
      • Information Systems & Data
      • Supervising Child Welfare Services
      • System Reform
      • Training
      • Workforce
    • Systemwide
      • Assessment
      • Behavioral Health & Wellness
      • Courts
      • Cultural Responsiveness
      • Diverse Populations and Communities
      • Domestic Violence
      • Human Trafficking
      • Laws & Policies
      • Service Array
      • Statistics
      • Well-Being
      • Youth
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Topic
    • Browse by Title
    • índice de Títulos en Español (Spanish Title Index)
  • Library
    • Library Search Help
    • Library Services
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals Search
    • State-Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Resources From the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants
      • The Story of the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Video Series
    • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series
      • Episode 84: What Does an Effective Support System Look Like?
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
  • News & Events
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Adoption Triad
    • Children's Bureau Express (CBX)
    • The Grantee Connection
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • Home
  • Topics
  • Systemwide
  • Behavioral Health & Wellness
  • Impact of Substance Use on the Child Welfare System
  • Opioid Crisis

The Opioid Crisis

Among parental substance use disorders, opioid use disorders are increasingly common. Children and youth affected by familial opioid use disorders are more likely to experience child maltreatment and neglect. They are also more likely to witness familial overdoses, thus creating often-undiagnosed trauma reactions and a need for therapeutic intervention. While Federal and State responses have expanded in recent years to address the growing opioid epidemic, local child welfare agencies remain the primary response for children and youth affected by the crisis. As a result, child welfare professionals must understand the intersecting challenges presented by the opioid epidemic and involvement with child welfare. Below, find resources about the effect of the opioid crisis on child welfare agencies, including the specific ways the epidemic affects child and family well-being, and the services and treatments proven most effective in addressing opioid use disorders.

Children in the Opioid Epidemic: Addressing the Next Generation’s Public Health Crisis
Feder, Letourneau, & Brook (2019)
Pediatrics, 143(1)
Outlines how opioid-related problems can affect child health and safety and describes challenges and possible solutions to the opioid crisis.

Child Trauma and Opioid Use: Policy Implications
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2021)
Discusses how exposure to opioid use may affect children’s mental and physical health across their lifespan. This article also addresses policy implications and recommends services and resources to help children and families affected by opioid use.

Child Welfare Training Toolkit: Special Topic: Opioids
National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
Overviews signs of methamphetamine use and its effect on families. This training section, which follows module 7, helps participants understand the warning signs of methamphetamine manufacturing, the referral process, and treatment options for family members.

Medication-Assisted Treatment
National Center on Substance on Abuse and Child WelfareProvides resources to better understand and implement evidence-based medication-assisted treatments to support children and families' safety, well-being, and recovery.

Opioids and the COVID-19 Pandemic
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service
Describes the intersection of the opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, which presents unprecedented challenges for families and communities. The webpage also details efforts made during the pandemic to expand services to vulnerable families and children.

Practical Strategies for Social Workers to Combat the Opioid Epidemic
Lister (2022)
Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network
Explores how social workers can help combat the opioid epidemic by improving access to evidence-based medications; improving access to high-quality psychosocial services; and promoting and delivering ethical, evidence-based services.

Resources to Support Families in Child Welfare Affected by Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders [Video]
National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (2018)
Features a variety of technical assistance resources, including publications, webinars, and tools that communities can use to better serve families in child welfare who are affected by opioid and other substance use disorders.

The Ripple Effect: The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic on Children and Families
Brundage & Levine (2019)
Milbank Memorial Fund
Describes the long-term effects of opioid use on child development and family preservation services. The report also makes recommendations on how child welfare agencies and professionals can address this issue and lessen the impact of the opioid epidemic.

State and National Opioid Fact Sheets
American Academy of Pediatrics
Compiles national and State-specific information about how the opioid crisis has short- and long-term consequences for child well-being. The factsheets also offer State and Federal policy solutions.

Supporting Children and Families Affected by the Opioid Epidemic (PDF - 1,161 KB)
Aron, Benatar, & Peters (2020)
Urban Institute 
Examines how the opioid epidemic impacts children in families affected by drug use, how parents and caregivers could be better supported, what service providers and systems need to better support families affected by the opioid crisis, and how some systems are responding.

Supporting Families Affected by Opioids
National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
Provides resources detailing best practices for linking parents and children with opioid use disorders to treatment.

Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder May Reduce Substantiated Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (2021)
Explains a study that found increased availability of buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder predicts reductions in certain types of child maltreatment.

Understanding the Effect of the Opioid Epidemic on Child Maltreatment
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (2022)
Presents the results of a study conducted in Washington State that showed no relationship between opioid overdose events and child maltreatment indicators. The study did show that as rates of opioid overdoses increased, opioid-exposed infants were less likely to go home from the hospital to their birth home and were more likely to be placed in out-of-home care.

(Back to Top)

The resources below were produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights; HHS, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; HHS, Administration for Children and Families; & National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare.

These resources provide information on Federal disability rights laws and protections that apply to some individuals in recovery from an opioid use disorder. The five-part series includes the following:

  • Webinars. "Part 1 Civil Rights Protections for Individuals With a Disability: The Basics" provides information on Federal disability law applications for qualified individuals with a disability in the child welfare system. "Part 2 Civil Rights Protections for Individuals With an Opioid Use Disorder" explores Federal disability rights protections that apply to some individuals in recovery from an opioid use disorder.
  • Animated videos. "Medication-Assisted Treatment and Common Misconceptions" provides an overview of this approach in child welfare practice. "Child Welfare Case Staffing: Social Worker and Supervisor" is a video that centers on misconceptions individuals may have about medication-assisted treatment and how Federal disability rights laws protect some individuals in recovery from an opioid use disorder.

Spotlight On

National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

Related Content

Assessing Parental Substance Use Disorders

Working With Families: Substance Use

Impact of Opioids on Families

Children's Bureau - An office of the Administration for Children and Families

Child Welfare Information Gateway is a service of the

  • Children’s Bureau
  • Administration for Children and Families
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
↑ Back to top
  • HOME
  • TOPICS
    • Family-Centered Practice
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
    • Out-of-Home Care
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
    • Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
    • Systemwide
  • National Initiatives
    • National Adoption Month
    • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
    • National Foster Care Month
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Title
    • Browse by Topic
    • Índice de Títulos en Español
  • Library
    • Search the Library
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals
    • State Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Children's Bureau Resources
    • Information Gateway Podcast
    • Multimedia
  • NEWS AND EVENTS
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • ABOUT US
    • How to Report Child Abuse or Neglect
    • Find Help With a Personal Situation
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Glossary
    • Search A to Z
  • Contact Us
    • 1-800-394-3366
    • info@childwelfare.gov
    • Subscribe to Free Updates
    • Chat With Us
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube
  • POLICIES & HELPFUL LINKS
    • Disclaimer and Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility
    • FOIA requests
    • No FEAR Act data
    • Office of the Inspector General
    • Performance reports
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
    • USA.gov
    • Download Acrobat Reader
    • Login
  • ↑ Back to top