WASHINGTON — A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that Native children are the most likely of all children to be living with a parent who has a substance use disorder.

The report was authored by Robin Ghertner, director of the Division of Data and Technical Analysis at HHS.

“American Indian/Alaska Native children were the most likely to live with a parent who misused substances (32.9 percent) or had a [substance use disorder] (8.0 percent),” Ghertner wrote. “Black and White non-Hispanic children were more likely than Asian non-Hispanic and Hispanic children to live with parents with potentially problematic substance use, but did not differ substantially from each other.”

For comparison, 18 percent of White children and 5 percent of Asian children lived with such a parent, according to the report.

Further:

• “Estimates for Hawaiian/Pacific Islander children – though reported in the table — are imprecise due to sample size issues, and comparing SUD estimate for this group to other groups is not recommended.”

• “When looking at specific substances, in general American Indian/Alaska Native children and children of multiple races were the most likely to live with parents misusing specific substances.”

The full report, which is based on data gathered from 2015 - 19, is online here. A breakdown of the types of drugs being used by parents is included.