PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Famularo, Richard
AU  - Spivak, Gayl
AU  - Bunshaft, Doris
AU  - Berkson, Jeffrey
TI  - Advisability of Substance Abuse Testing in Parents Who Severely Maltreat Their Children: The Issue of Drug Testing before the Juvenile/Family Courts
DP  - 1988 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 217--223
VI  - 16
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/16/3/217.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/16/3/217.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law1988 Sep 01; 16
AB  - The authors discuss the advisability of juvenile courts requiring urine testing for parents who severely maltreat (abuse and/or neglect) their children. While urine testing for substance abuse is not sufficient to ensure adequate treatment, it is important as part of the overall substance abuse treatment in a selected group of parents. An objective of this article is to offer specific urine testing guidelines in the context of child maltreatment cases in which the court considers removing children from parental custody to state custody. Although potentially useful, urinalysis to detect abused substances has limitations and is appropriate only in well-defined situations. Effective treatment of the substance-abusing, child-maltreating parent must be multimodal, with treatment of substance abuse as the first and most important step.