by Mary Nelson

About the author: Mary Nelson is the administrator of the Division of Adult, Children, and Family Services in the Iowa Department of Human Services. The following viewpoint is adapted from her testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Human Resources on March 23, 2000.

State human service administrators and child welfare directors have identified substance abuse by parents as one of the most pervasive problems affecting the child welfare system today. The facts are staggering. An estimated 40 to 80 percent of the children who are involved with the child welfare system have families with alcohol and drug problems. In my own state of Iowa, over 50 percent of our family foster care cases involve parental substance abuse, and at least one-third of our “in-home” cases involve parental substance...