Module Menu

A parent who previously delivered a baby with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).
Module 1 PowerPoint Slides
Module 1 Case Scenario

This module provides an overview of a quick reference tool to apply general knowledge about opioid use and treatment to the dependency court process as well as identify case-specific information that judges need to make well-informed decisions at different points in the dependency court process.
Applying Opioid Knowledge to Dependency Court Process PowerPoint Slides
Bench Guide for Opioid Involved Dependency Cases

Individuals who struggle with substance use often spend time seeking the next high, hoping that it will be bigger and better than the one before. Sometimes, to get it, they combine multiple substances together. “Speedballs”, the combination of opioids and stimulants (commonly heroin and cocaine but also now including fentanyl, meth, and more) is on the rise. Florida is one of 10 states where the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has recently seized various combinations of methamphetamine with fentanyl, carfentanil, heroin, and cocaine. The combination of opioids and stimulants are a potent mix that can lead to severe consequences for those who try it even once. The result can be dangerous situations, such as overdose, or other extreme physical and mental symptoms or effects that can put the individual’s health, safety, and life at risk.
Speedballing PowerPoint Slides
Speedballing: Quick Reference Tool

Parental substance use—including misuse of opioids—can have detrimental effects on parents as well as their children, placing all family members at risk. Determining the readiness of parents to change their behaviors, including their willingness to access effective treatment and recovery support, is an important dimension that helping professionals need to address. One approach to working with these parents is the Stages of Change model, which posits that the five stages of change—precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance—can be an effective aid in understanding the process of how people change their behaviors. People do not typically change behaviors quickly and decisively, and dependence on opioids can be a significant and complicating factor in their efforts to change. This micromodule helps participants understand how to recognize the likely stage of change of a parent who uses opioids and identify appropriate helping responses.
Stages of Change PowerPoint Slides
Stages of Change Reference Guide
Stages of Change Case Study

The opioid epidemic hasn’t spared infants the and very young children. For children with one or both parents who misuse opioids or other substances, family life often can be chaotic and unpredictable. Past and present adverse experiences may contribute to the inability of caregivers to understand and attend to a young child’s needs thus creating adverse childhood experiences for the child. Children’s basic needs—including nutrition, supervision, and nurturing—may go unmet, which can result in neglect during a period of utmost importance in brain development. Recent developments in the neuroscience of addiction and parenting may help to explain the challenges faced by many caregivers with opioid use disorders (OUD) who are caring for young children, as they transition to a caregiving role.1 This micromodule will provide a brief overview of these issues and identify emerging promising interventions that adopt a developmental perspective, occur concurrently with substance use treatment, and target the parent–infant relationship as early as possible.
PowerPoint Slides
Case Study Handout

Women who have been diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) are more likely to have experienced DV, sexual violence, and childhood sexual abuse; are more likely to have been prescribed opioids for chronic pain; and are more likely to self-medicate to cope with trauma. While definitive research on whether OUD increases risk for victimization or whether victimization leads to OUD, adverse consequences abound. This micromodule identifies ways DV perpetrators use opioids and other substance use and mental health problems against survivors, including those at risk for or involved with the child welfare system.
PowerPoint Slides
Quick Reference Handout

With all the attention on the opioid use epidemic gripping Florida and the rest of the nation, the rippling effects on other family members and caretakers are not always sufficiently addressed. Family structures in America have become more complex—growing from the traditional nuclear family to single-parent families, stepfamilies, foster families, and multigenerational families. Opioid addiction dramatically alters family roles, rules, rituals, and the family’s internal and external relationships. Its effects are observed across all family subsystems—adult intimacy relationships, parent-child-relationships, sibling relationships, and the relationship between the nuclear family and kinship networks.
PowerPoint Slides
Case Study Handout

Opioid use disorder (OUD) can impede parents’ abilities to care for their children. Societal responses are often guided by a belief that unless the parent receives substance use treatment, there is little help for the child. A significant body of research, however, demonstrates the importance of not only addressing the immediate wellbeing of the children of caregivers with substance use disorder but also preventing the continuing cycle of drug use. Opioid and other substance abuse prevention programs for children are often delivered to groups of students in general settings such as school classrooms. This module describes why these universal programs are often minimally effective for children affected by parents with OUD and provide suggestions for a more effective cumulative strategies approach for children of parents with substance use disorders.
PowerPoint Slides
Quick Reference Handout

Collateral impacts of the opioid epidemic such as overdoses, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), and higher rates of child maltreatment reports and foster care placements are creating significant challenges in Florida communities. From early identification, screening and assessment, medication-assisted treatment, recovery support, and continuing care, this workshop will review what we know about evidence-based and other effective practices for system responses with parents with opioid misuse involved in the child welfare system. Through material presented and interactive discussions, participants will collectively identify opportunities for their communities to address these challenges through existing resources, new resources including the federal opioid resources and Family First Prevention Services Act, and emerging approaches. Participants will leave prepared to do their part in developing a transformative and evidence-based local system response to parental opioid misuse to foster safe and stable homes in which children can thrive.
PowerPoint Slides
Handout