The risk of subsequent maltreatment allegations in families with substance-exposed infants

Objective: This study seeks to: (1) assess the relationship between identified prenatal substance use and the risk of subsequent maltreatment allegations among families involved with child protective services; and (2) compare the types of safety threats encountered by children whose parents had substance-exposed infant (SEI) allegations to the types of safety threats faced by children whose parents had other types of allegations. Method: Survey data from a probability sample of parents were linked to state administrative data over a 33-month time frame. Cox regression models were conducted to assess the relative risk of subsequent allegations associated with parents whose child welfare case opened following an SEI allegation (the SEI group) compared to parents whose case opened following other types of allegations. Results: The likelihood of subsequent allegations is greater among parents in the SEI group. However, the increased risk sterns almost entirely from subsequent SEI-related allegations. Parents in the SEI group are not more likely to incur other types of allegations such as physical abuse or lack of supervision. Conclusions: An increased risk of subsequent maltreatment has been used to justify opening child protective cases on the basis of an SEI allegation alone. By looking closely at the types of subsequent allegations as well as the incidence of subsequent allegations, this research helps to clarify the maltreatment risks associated with SEI cases. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.