Child welfare case workers have long known that abuse of alcohol and other drugs is a major problem with many of the parents on their caseloads. Research has also found that substance-abusing parents tend to be particularly problematic for case workers; they are likely to reject court-ordered services and make service delivery difficult. Specific intervention techniques can facilitate clients' movement through the stages of change; motivational interviewing is one such technique. In motivational interviewing, the goal is to develop internally motivated desires for change in clients. Motivational interviewing seeks to bring to awareness in clients that drugs or alcohol are a problem, to address the ambivalence and fear many feel about changing, and to provide choices regarding how these changes can occur. Motivation, according to Miller (1995), results from the interaction between the client and the counselor and can be activated even in short-term contacts. The first principle in motivational interviewing is to express empathy; this involves bringing the client to experience that the counselor understands his/her feelings. The second principle is the development of discrepancy. Under this principle, the counselor summarizes the conflicting issues clients raise and draws the client into discussing his/her ambivalent feelings about changing drug-abusing behavior. The next two principles are to "avoid argumentation" and to "roll with resistance." The latter can be achieved by changing the focus of the conversation, such as moving to a less loaded topic or by reflecting both positive and negatives the clients have raised. As the concerns begin to outweigh the gratification of drug use, the hope is that the "decisional balance" will tip toward making a change. A case study that illustrates motivational interviewing is provided. 17 references