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May 2017Vol. 18, No. 3Supporting Recovery in Parents With Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare

The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, in partnership with the Minnesota Center for Chemical and Mental Health, created a three-part video series called Supporting Recovery in Parents With Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare. This video series features experts discussing the challenges parents with co-occurring disorders (CODs) face and the resources and strategies child welfare workers can provide to help support these parents and their families.

The first video, "Supporting Parents With Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare," provides an introduction to the topic and defines CODs as a simultaneous diagnosis of mental health and substance use disorders. Experts in the child welfare field featured in the video report that approximately 70–80 percent of parents involved in child welfare have CODs, making it a significant hurdle to a family's well-being. The experts discuss the importance of understanding each disorder individually as well as part of the dual diagnosis in order to create an appropriate case plan that addresses the challenges associated with CODs. 

The second video, "Case Planning That Supports the Path to Recovery," stresses the importance of identifying the correct providers and resources to help families dealing with CODs and emphasizes finding a provider who has an integrated approach to dealing with both diagnoses, collaborative case planning, and safety planning.

The third video, "Integrated Approaches, Bias, and Meeting Parents Where They Are," focuses on roadblocks to recovery, specifically bias and other types of judgmental behavior, which can shape the way workers view the people they are working with and hinder their efforts to employ the appropriate case-planning strategies and support that parents with CODs need.

The complete video series, Supporting Recovery in Parents with Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare, is available at https://www.cascw.org/portfolio-items/supporting-recovery-in-parents-with-co-occurring-disorders-in-child-welfare-training-videos/.