Neighborhood Drug Demand and Risk of Foster Care Entries

Parental drug abuse has been repeatedly associated with child maltreatment risk. Similarly, rates of drug demand in neighborhoods have been found to be positively associated with rates of child maltreatment. Demand for illicit drugs is difficult to measure as it is illegal behavior. Here, we use survey data from Sacramento, California to estimate demand for illicit drugs at the neighborhood level. Data were analyzed using Bayesian space-time conditional autoregressive models to assess associations between neighborhood drug market potentials and foster care entries. We find that higher drug demand was positively associated with increased drug-related foster care entries (RR 1.06, CI 1.02–1.10). Interventions at the policy level that decrease drug availability in high demand neighborhoods may also decrease rates of drug related foster care entries.