More Children Placed in Foster Care Because of Opioid Crisis: Study

A growing number of children are being placed in foster care as a result of the nation’s opioid crisis, a new study concludes.

“There are many negative aspects to the opioid crisis, but its effect on children is arguably one of the worst,” study author Troy Quast of the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health told HealthDay.

Quast found out of every 1,000 children in Florida, two had to be removed from their homes in 2015 because of parental neglect—an increase of 129 percent since 2012. During that period, the rate of opioid prescriptions rose 9 percent, he reported in Health Affairs.

The study found that for each additional 6.7 opioid prescriptions written per 100 people, the removal rate for parental neglect rose 32 percent.