Child care practices among crack cocain addicted custodial mothers: implications for social work practice, 1993

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the child rearing practices and beliefs of crack cocaine addicted mothers. A secondary purpose was to examine and describe the possible substantial incidents of child maltreatment among these mothers (i.e., abuse and neglect). The final purpose was to provide social work practitioners with information by which to better serve this high risk child maltreating population. To achieve these objectives, one hundred and eight poverty single, head of households crack cocaine addicted mothers with an average of two children ages 0-2 years participated in the study. Each participant completed The Mother's Attitude Questionnaire developed by the researcher. Results were demonstrated that these mothers generally reported having appropriate childrearing practice and poor family support systems. However, results of an artificial data search showed that reports of child maltreatment had been substantiated for most study mothers and that present child custody was legally problematic. Implications for the social work discipline and directions for future research conclude this work