The papers are divided into four sections. The first section contains papers in which the authors draw upon national data, social mapping techniques, clinical experiences, and personal stories to describe patterns of drug use, neighborhood ecology, the effects of drug use on parents and children, and the cycle of drug abuse. The second section deals with issues pertaining to the treatment of drug-abusing mothers, by presenting a comprehensive public health approach, outlining barriers to successful intervention, and defining the need for better research. Drug abuse has placed a new burden on child welfare services in terms of dealing with client problems, allocating scarce resources, helping black children placed in foster care, and developing more adequate statutory protections. The final section sets forth an agenda for reform of the child welfare system that would incorporate long-term in-house services, termination of parental rights, long-term foster care, kinship care, and legal guardianship with regard to the children of drug abusers. Chapter notes