Peer Support Services for Families Impacted by Substance Use Disorder

Evidence Ranking: Promising

Substance use disorder in families often leads to involvement in child welfare systems. Research shows that removal of a child from a family is traumatic for both the child and parents and can impede the parent’s journey to recovery. Many programs now employ family peer mentors or recovery specialists to work with the families on their treatment plan, connect parents and children to services and resources, and provide support as they go through a difficult process.

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Policymakers & Community Leaders
Patients & Caregivers

Spotlight: Celebrating Families

Evidence Ranking: Proven

Source: Addiction Policy Forum

A brief overview of the Celebrating Familes! curriculum which is an evidence-based, skills building program for youth and families who have been impacted by addiction. The goal of the program is to prevent youth development of substance use disorders while improving the child and family members’s mental and physical health. Trainers from the National Association for Children of Alcoholics work with communities and programs to faithfully implement the 16-week curriculum which has been adopted in over 100 jurisdictions including treatment programs, drug courts, and community organizations. This report is part of the Addiction Policy Forum’s Spotlight series which highlights innovative programs to address the opioid crisis.

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Policymakers & Community Leaders
Patients & Caregivers

Parent Partner Programs: Promising Practice to Keep Families Struggling with Substance Use Disorder Together

Evidence Ranking: Promising

Source: National Judicial Opioid Task Force

This briefing paper from the National Judicial Opioid Task Force provides an overview of parent partner programs, where parents facing child welfare or dependency proceedings are paired with a peer adviser who helps them understand and navigate the process. Parent partner programs in Washington, Iowa,

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Policymakers & Community Leaders

Spotlight: Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams

Evidence Ranking: Promising

Source: Addiction Policy Forum

A brief overview of the Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) model for serving families with active child protective services (CPS) cases and parental substance misuse. The START model pairs a CPS caseworker with a family mentor who has lived experience with recovery and CPS system and the 2 engage the family in a sustained strengths based approach. START teams have limited case loads of 12 to 15 families. Research has shown that families who receive START services as opposed to usual care in the CPS system were more likely to achieve abstinence, children were less likely to be placed in state custody, and the state saves money in foster care costs. This report is part of the Addiction Policy Forum’s spotlight series.

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Policymakers & Community Leaders
Patients & Caregivers

Spotlight: The Moyer Foundation’s Camp Mariposa

Evidence Ranking: Promising

Source: Addiction Policy Forum

A brief overview of the Moyer Foundation’s Camp Mariposa, a national addiction prevention and mentoring program for youth who have been impacted by substance misuse in their families. Launched in 2007 in Seattle, Camp Mariposa now operates in more than 12 locations across the country, providing services to children ages 9 to 12. Part of the Addiction Policy Forum’s Spotlight series which highlights innovative programs to address the opioid crisis.

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Policymakers & Community Leaders
Patients & Caregivers

Civil Legal Aid Helps Those Affected by the Opioid Crisis

Evidence Ranking: Promising

Source: The Justice in Government Project and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association

This 3 page briefing paper discusses the role legal aid services can play in helping address the impact of the opioid crisis on individuals, families, and communities.

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Addiction’s Impact on Children and Families: Resources for Parents, Grandparents, Children and Youth

Research has shown that having a close family member with a history of addiction is a risk factor for substance use and for developing a substance use disorder. In this collection, we feature resources that provide education about addiction, support for coping when a family member has an addiction, and selected resources designed to help prevent the development of substance use disorder in children and youth.

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Addiction’s Impact on Children and Families: Policy Guides

The opioid and addiction crises have greatly impacted family stability, leading to large increases in child welfare cases and the rate of grandparents or other relatives raising children. In this collection, we feature reports that describe the impact of addiction on families and provide strategies for improving services provided to children and their caregivers.

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Addiction’s Impact on Children and Families

The opioid and addiction crises have had a significant impact on children and families, particularly those that face child welfare or dependency proceedings because of a parent’s substance use. With this collection, CLOUD features resources designed for policymakers who seek to improve care for individuals and prevent the break-up of families and resources for parents, grandparents and caregivers designed to help them support children and youth affected by parental addiction.

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Peer Support

This collection features resources to assist substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers, health care systems, and community organizations create and manage peer support programs.

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