Child guardianship in a Canadian home visitation program for women who use substances in the perinatal period.
BACKGROUND
Retaining guardianship of one's infant is often a priority for pregnant women who use substances, and may be beneficial to infants when they are safe in their mothers' care. Previous studies from the United States have identified several maternal psychosocial characteristics associated with the ability to keep an infant free from abuse or neglect; however, little is known about the impact of multiple risk factors on guardianship, particularly in Canadian intervention programs.


OBJECTIVE
To describe maternal characteristics associated with child guardianship among pregnant women at risk of an alcohol and/or substance exposed pregnancy who attended a Canadian home visitation program.


METHODS
Guardianship status at 6 months post-enrolment was extracted from a provincial program's records for all women enrolled between November 1999 and May 2005 (n=64). Bivariate analyses were performed to determine client characteristics most likely to have retained guardianship.


RESULTS
At follow-up, 70% of participants were guardians of the index infant. Higher income, more prenatal care, no history of sexual abuse, better alcohol and psychiatric scores, and fewer risk factors on a cumulative risk index were significantly associated with retaining guardianship at 6 month follow-up (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Retaining child guardianship may be the greatest challenge and opportunity for women experiencing problems in multiple domains of their lives, including those associated with substance dependence. Programs targeted at women who use substances while pregnant may best assist mothers to retain guardianship of their infants by supporting clients to address the complex social and health problems often found in conjunction with addictions.
Mills
Rosanne M T
RM
Decision Support Research Team, Calgary Health Region, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Siever
Jodi E
JE
Hicks
Matt
M
Badry
Dorothy
D
Tough
Suzanne C
SC
Benzies
Karen
K
D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D002655:Child Custody; D002668:Child Rearing; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006699:Home Care Services; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008429:Maternal Welfare / Q000523:psychology; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D011181:Postnatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation