June 2021Vol. 22, No. 6Opioid Use Disorder and Civil Rights Video and Webinar Series

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare collaborated with the Office for Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a webinar series geared toward child welfare and court professionals that provides information about federal disability rights protections for parents with opioid or other substance use disorders who are also involved with child welfare.

The webinars in the series discuss the importance of breaking down barriers that keep these parents from accessing medication-assisted treatment (MAT). These barriers may be illegal and delay parents' access to health and human services programs.

The first set of webinars in the series explore civil rights protections for individuals in recovery from an opioid use disorder:

• "Part 1: Civil Rights Protections for Individuals With a Disability: The Basics"-This webinar provides basic information on the protections available for qualified individuals with a disability who are involved with child welfare and federal disability rights laws.
• "Part 2: Civil Rights Protections for Individuals With an Opioid Use Disorder"-This webinar delves into how substance use disorders, including opioid use disorders, can be seen as a disability and the federal disability rights protections for individuals receiving MAT.

The webinar series also offers shorter informational videos such as the following:

• "Medication-Assisted Treatment and Common Misconceptions"-This video provides an indepth discussion of MAT, including common misconceptions about this form of substance use treatment, such as the belief that recipients are substituting one drug for another. The video offers effective strategies that child welfare systems and the courts can use in their practice to help them move beyond these misconceptions and avoid delaying case planning and permanency decisions.
• "Child Welfare Case Staffing: Social Worker and Supervisor"-This animated video simulates a situation where a caseworker and his supervisor discuss the case of a mother using MAT while pregnant and subsequently having her children removed and placed in foster and kinship care. The caseworker and supervisor address the misconceptions about MAT that may have led to the removal of the children and the protections the mother is entitled to under federal disability rights laws.
• "Child Welfare Case Staffing: Child Welfare Court Case"-This animated video simulates a court hearing about a mother who is receiving multiple services-including parent-child interaction therapy, supervised visitation, individual counseling, and MAT-while her children are placed with their grandmother and her right to be approved for unsupervised visitation with her children despite her continued use of methadone as a substance use treatment.

Visit the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare website to watch the webinars and videos and learn more about parents' rights while undergoing MAT.