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Ch. 550 2000 LAWS OF MARYLAND
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certain task force in developing the statewide protocol and to enter into a
memorandum of understanding for a certain purpose; requiring the Department
of Human Resources and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to
adopt certain regulations; defining certain terms; providing for the application
of this Act; and generally relating to the establishment of integrated child
welfare and substance abuse treatment services.
BY adding to
Article - Family Law
Section 5-1201 through 5-1209, inclusive, to be under the new subtitle "Subtitle
12. Integration of Child Welfare and Substance Abuse Treatment Services"
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1999 Replacement Volume and 1999 Supplement)
Preamble
WHEREAS, Substance abuse is a key factor fueling intensification of child
abuse and neglect in the 1990s; and
WHEREAS, 62 percent of children (over 2,700) in Maryland entering
out-of-home placement in 1999 had a parent with an identified substance abuse
problem; and
WHEREAS, The child welfare system in the United States spends an estimated
$20 billion per year to care for abused and neglected children of drug-abusing and
alcohol-abusing parents; and
WHEREAS, The projected cost of a child entering the foster care system in
Maryland is $60,000 per episode; and
WHEREAS, Nearly one-third of substance abusers achieve sustained
abstinence in their first attempt at recovery and an additional one—third eventually
achieve long-term abstinence; and
WHEREAS, 44 percent of females in drug treatment report being in treatment
in order to retain or regain custody of their children; and
WHEREAS, 48 percent of the clients in residential treatment with their
children said they would not have been interested in treatment if they had not been
able to bring their children with them; and
WHEREAS, Women who complete residential treatment have significantly
higher abstinence, employment, and arrest-free rates than do the women who do not;
and
WHEREAS, Victims of child abuse and neglect and children of
substance-abusing parents have increased risk of substance abuse problems; and
WHEREAS, Linking child welfare and substance abuse programs would make
both more effective; and
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- 2886 -
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