Children Affected by Substance Abuse: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Serving the Epidemic’s Most Vulnerable Victims

Significant growth has taken place during the past 10 years in the development of resources for and treatment of substance abuse disorders. While these services are much needed and very important to assist adults affected by this epidemic, the same attention has not been given to the child victims of crime as a result of the opioid and broader substance abuse epidemic. Cayuga Counseling Services, Inc., Children Affected by Substance Abuse program (CASA) was developed to fill this gap in services in rural Cayuga County, New York. Utilizing funding from the Office of Victims of Crime, Cayuga Counseling Services, Inc., has developed and implemented a multidisciplinary coordinated response for children and youth up to age 18, as well as their non-offending primary caregivers, who have been victimized as a result of the opioid crisis. Treating child victims with a coordinated multidisciplinary response allows us to intervene more effectively to help mitigate the long-term negative effects children face when they are exposed to this kind of trauma. The CASA program provides individual and group psychotherapy, support and advocacy services, legal assistance, and psychiatry, and educates the community about the services available. All services are free and confidential and housed at the Child Advocacy Center, a child-friendly site providing services to children who have been sexually and/or physically abused or exposed to domestic violence.

This session will benefit service providers looking to develop programming in their community that targets children affected by substance abuse. Attendees will take back concrete tools to begin having these conversations and working to bring these much-needed services to the children in their communities. Child Advocacy Centers have a history of successfully working with multidisciplinary teams involving clinical, legal, medical, and educational partners, and the presenters will share the lessons learned in pulling together this comprehensive programming with multidisciplinary stakeholders.