0555b664__Alcohol_and_Other_Drug_Issues__Program_Improvement_Plan__PIP_
[State] Hawaii Among all reasons identified for children coming to the attention of the child welfare agency, substance abuse by parents was cited in 26 cases (52%). Primary reasons for opening a child welfare agency case included substance abuse by parent in 10 cases (20%). Many stakeholders commenting in the issue of maltreatment recurrence expressed the opinion that DHS is not consistently effective in preventing maltreatment recurrence. They attribute this problem to the following: 1) maltreatment is often due to parental substance abuse and there is a scarcity of drug treatment services; 2) caseworkers close cases �too early,� usually because of high caseloads; and 3) services for in-home services cases are usually voluntary and many parents do not want to participate. Services provided to families to protect children in home and to prevent removal included, but were not limited to, counseling (individual, family and couples), domestic violence support groups, substance abuse assessment and treatment, parenting classes, psychological and psychosexual evaluations, housing assistance, Ohana family counseling, transportation to services, grief counseling, sexual abuse therapy, sexual offender treatment, early childhood education, nurse home visitor, anger management services, developmental assessment, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and Head Start. According to the statewide assessment, many of the foster care re-entries within 12 months are the result of reunifications that have failed. This was attributed in large part�in the assessment and by stakeholders�to the pattern of substance abuse relapse that is part of the pattern of recovery for substance abusers. Several stakeholders suggested that even when parents successfully complete drug treatment, they tend to relapse when they return to old environments with family, friends, and neighbors that do not support them. Several stakeholders identified the following barriers to granting TPR in a timely manner: a change in the DHS caseworker; the length of time necessary for parents to complete substance abuse treatment; delays in assessments and services to families due to waiting lists for these services, and delays in court proceedings. Many stakeholders commenting on the issue of service array expressed the opinion that there are several services available to assess the strengths and needs of children and address the identified service needs. Some of the services noted as readily available were the following: Home-based outreach, therapy and counseling, parenting classes, visitation services, public health nursing, domestic violence programs, substance abuse assessments, in-patient treatment for mothers and babies, and transitional housing and independent living services for youth. Critical service gaps identified by stakeholders included substance abuse services for children and youth, residential substance abuse treatment for youth and adults (to allow parents and children to live together while in treatment) and aftercare services to prevent substance abuse relapse. Some stakeholders reported that some specialized services are available only on Oahu, including therapeutic services and in-patient substance abuse treatment, requiring inter-island travel which is very expensive. The State�s standards for licensing foster homes includes that there must be no history of substance abuse. According to the statewide assessment, DHS continues to have a need for more foster homes, particularly homes for teenagers, drug-exposed infants, children with behavioral and social-emotional problems, and sibling groups. Stakeholders voiced concern that DHS does not require foster parents to participate in any ongoing training once they have completed the PRIDE training. Drug addiction is an area in which they identified a need for foster parent training.
CWS will provide enhanced training to its staff on dealing with substance-abusing clients as part of State staff development and training program and State on-going training. Caseworkers will be provided training on substance abuse relapse prevention/intervention.� Collaboration with the State of Hawaii, Department of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division to develop additional substance abuse treatment resources and, if resources are available, pursuing purchase of services for substance abuse treatment services to be provided at Neighborhood Places or other community-based locales. (Neighborhood Places are family centers that provide counseling, information and referral services to families). There will be an increase in the availability and utilization of substance abuse treatment services for CWS clients and an improvement in access to substance abuse assessment and treatment services for CWS families. CWS is partnering with DHS Benefit Employment and Support Services Division (BESSD) in a collaboration to help CWS parents who are TANF eligible to receive substance abuse services through the BESSD POS contract.� Procedures will be completed and issued to BESSD and CWS staff to refer CWS/TANF families to BESSD for substance abuse treatment.� Begin quarterly utilization reviews to confirm that clients are being referred and accepting services. If the quarterly utilization reviews reveal that clients are not being referred or accepting substance abuse services CWS section administrators will develop and implement a corrective action plan.
A Review of Alcohol and Other Drug Issues
Program Improvement Plan (PIP)