CPP Eligibility Factor - Drug or Alcohol Abuse in the Child's Family

Clarification of Eligibility Factor

Drug or alcohol abuse in the child’s family (22-28-106 (1) (a.5) (IV) C.R.S.).

Abuse can be:

Present
Past

How It May Be Documented

Developmental screen
Social services or other agency referral
Parent report/interview
Newspaper article
Court or police report

Significance of Factor in regards to School Readiness

Family members’ drug or alcohol abuse subjects a child to multiple environmental risk factors which impact cognitive and academic development. Children living with substance-abusing parents are likely to face poverty, maternal depression, unstable and disorganized households, passive exposure to illicit drugs, harsh discipline and possible emotional and physical neglect.
The abuse can dangerously compromise or destroy the ability of parents to provide intellectual stimulation and literacy modeling. Mood altering substances can make a parent’s behavior erratic and thus disrupt the parent-child relationship.
Children exposed to substance abuse often have difficulty regulating their feelings and impulses

Research References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Service U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Factors in Child Development: Personal Characteristics and Parental Behavior. Retrieved June 2, 2011, from http://www.rti.org/pubs/child-development.pdf

Generations United. (2006). Meth and child welfare: Promising solutions for children, their parents, and grandparents. Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved June 2, 2011, fromhttp://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2006/06/09/meth-and-child-welfare-promising-solutions-for-children-their-parents-and-grandparents

National Association for Children of Alcoholics. (2000). Children of addicted parents: Important facts. Retrieved August 7, 2009, from http://www.nationaldec.org/user_files/6117.pdf

Pulsipher, Margaret., Radonovich, Krestin, Belcher, Harolyn M.E. and Buts, Arlene M. (2004) Intelligence and School Readiness in Preschool Children with Prenatal Drug Exposure, Child Neuropsychology, 10:2, 89-101.