HHS report finds Native kids most likely to live with parent who has substance use disorder
HHS report finds Native kids most likely to live with parent who has substance use disorder
A sobering reminder this holiday season.
HHS report finds Native kids most likely to live with parent who has substance use disorder
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.
