Meth and Safety Management

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Meth and Safety Management

• Theresa Costello, MA
• National Resource Center for Child Protective
  Services
• A Service of the Childrens Bureau

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Meth and Safety Management

• In-Home or Out of Home?

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Covering the Basics

• Concepts Analysis

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A Child is Unsafe

• Unsafe
• Present danger
• Impending danger

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Universal Safety Threats

• Nobody to supervise
• Violence
• Lack of impulses
• No motivation
• Insufficient knowledge or skill
• Distorted view of a child
• Deprivation of essential resources
• Serious threats
• Intention to seriously harm

• Hiding child refusing access
• Unmet exceptional needs
• Dangerous environments
• Serious injuries
• Provocative or self destructive child behavior
• Fear as an expression of threats or terror
• Unexplained injuries

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Meth Related Functioning Family Situations

• Physically debilitating
• Tremors, weakness, weight loss, headaches
• Psychologically debilitating
• Confusion Irritability Poor concentration
  Paranoia Hallucinations Panic reactions
  Fatigue Depression Memory loss Anger
  Insomnia Psychosis
• Cognitively debilitating
• Recognition Information processing
  Communication Inability to learn from
  experience Attention Memory poor judgment
• Parenting Family Situation
• Inconsistent or avoiding parenting
• Chaotic home life high-dangerous traffic
• Lack of resources/provisions
• Access to drugs/paraphernalia
• Deteriorating relationships

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Mapping Meth Related Family Conditions to Safety
Threats

• A Handout

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Safety Intervention Analysis

• Definition Handout

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Safety Intervention Analysis

• Analyze meth-related safety threats caregiver
  protective capacity and family information to
  determine the degree of intrusiveness and the
  level of effort necessary for assuring that a
  safety plan will be effective in protecting a
  child
• The method to determine in-home or out-of-home
  safety management in meth cases

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Safety Intervention Analysis

• What Must Be Controlled How Are Threats
  Occurring?
• Can Will a Caregiver Protect?
• How to Judge In-Home/Out-of-Home?
• What Level of Effort is Required for In-home
  Safety Management?

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The Russell Case

• Video Handout - Case Application

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Application

• Review the Russell Intake
• Observe the Interviews
• Read the Russell Initial Assessment Findings
• Identify Meth-Related Safety Threats
• Walk Through the Safety Analysis
• Identify In-home or Out-of-home Safety Management

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Summary Safety Management in Meth Cases

• How important is fully understanding individual
  and family functioning as influenced by meth use?
• How important is analyzing/breaking down
  meth-related safety threats?
• Can analysis be used to rule in or rule out
  in-home safety management arriving at the out of
  home option?

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Thank You!

• www.nrccps.com