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Drug Endangered Child Outreach Network Project
| Topics |
Substance abuse
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| States served |
Tennessee
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| Description |
Each month, Anderson County, Tennessee, identifies 50 new cases of drug-endangered children (DEC) and/or drug-exposed infants (DEI). Drug-endangered children are those children whose parental drug use is endangering their lives. In Anderson County, 30 percent of the methamphetamine lab arrests include children in the home. And this explosion of methamphetamine production occurs in a community already ravaged by extremely high rates of oxycotin and other drug addiction. Drug-exposed infants are newborn babies whose mothers' drug use during pregnancy had a harmful impact on that baby. These DEC/DEI are placed in custodial care of the natural parents, a relative, or a foster parent, dependent of the individual circumstances. The custodial parent lacks the knowledge and resources to adequately address the medical, social, emotional, and behavioral development of these at-risk children. By intervening with the family at a critical time, we intend to prevent future problems for the DEC/DEI and their family.
Our goals are to: 1) Ensure the DEC/DEI has a stable, short-term environment (up to 6 months) that addresses the child's physical, emotional, and social well-being; 2) Ensure the parents have the skills and resources to provide positive parenting in a drug free home environment and; 3) Assess and implement a drug treatment plan for the abusing parent. The target number to serve is 72 DEC/DEI families over the 3-year grant period.
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| Services offered |
Working with our county's Department of Children's Services, Ridgeview Psychiatric Hospital and Center, Inc., will partner with Methodist Medical Center, our region's primary medical health provider, and Anderson County Health Council to deliver integrated medical and mental health services to the 24 DEC/DEI and their families per year immediately upon identification. The DECSS treatment team consists of a registered nurse and a social worker who will conduct assessments and implement treatment plans through a home visitation model. The DECSS treatment intends to work with each DEC/DEI and family for approximately 6 months to stabilize each family unit and facilitate the family's participation with a long-term provider. Our underlying strategy is to intervene when the family is most vulnerable, yet open to learning. We also aim to provide immediate support for critical concerns, and ensure the parents acquire the child advocacy skills so as to prevent future medical, social, and behavioral concerns.
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| Replication |
The Drug Endangered Child Outreach Network, which will oversee this project, is committed to expanding the consortium to include additional community stakeholders. The DECSS is being developed as a pilot prevention project designed to address a problem that is reaching epidemic proportions in rural America.
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| Source |
Rural Health Outreach Grantee Directory, 2006
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| Contact person |
Charlene Allen
Chief Operating Officer
Ridgeview Psychiatric Hospital and Center, Inc.
240 West Tyrone Road
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830
E-Mail: callen@ridgevw.com
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| Date added |
January 24, 2007 |
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