Recent studies have highlighted the progressively increasing number of children prescribed psychotropic medication, while findings have illustrated significantly greater usage among child welfare-involved children. These findings have raised serious concerns among mental health and child welfare professionals as well as the general public. To…

As the health, social, and developmental needs of infants in foster care become more complex, foster families are challenged to develop specialized knowledge to effectively address these needs. The goal of this qualitative research study was to identify the process of becoming a foster family and providing family foster caregiving within the…

Examines the conflicting views in the literature on the effects of prenatal exposure to drugs and reports on an early intervention project in a New York City agency. The rate of developmental delay was found to be virtually the same for children with and without prenatal exposure to drugs. (TJQ)

Permanency planning for infants with prenatal substance exposure is challenging due to characteristics of the infants and the ongoing substance use or relapse of the parents. Visitation is a primary mechanism through which child welfare workers determine and support permanency planning. Productive use of visitation for permanency planning for…