Impact of Medicaid expansion and methadone coverage as a medication for opioid use disorder on foster care entries during the opioid crisis

Shichao Tang, Jennifer L. Matjasko, Christopher R. Harper, Whitney L. Rostad, Katie A. Ports, Andrea E. Strahan and Curtis Florence

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 130, issue C

Abstract: Between 2012 and 2018, incidents of opioid-involved injuries surged and the number of children in foster care due to parental drug use disorder increased. Treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) might prevent or reduce the amount of time that children spend in the child welfare system. Using administrative data, we examined the impact of Medicaid expansion and state support for methadone as a medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) on first-time foster care placements. Results show that first-time foster care entries due to parental drug use disorder experienced a reduction of 28 per 100,000 children in Medicaid expansion states with methadone MOUD covered by their state Medicaid programs. The largest reduction was found among non-Hispanic Black children and the youngest children (age 0–1 years). Policies that increase OUD treatment access may reduce foster care placements by reducing parents’ drug use, a risk factor for child abuse/neglect and subsequent home removal.

Keywords: Foster care; Medicaid expansion; Opioid use disorder; Child abuse and neglect; Methadone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074092100325X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:130:y:2021:i:c:s019074092100325x

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106249

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().