Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Jane Addams College of Social Work will use a $1.9 million grant to study the impact of drugs and the justice system on women and their children.
The grant, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will support a five-year pilot project of research and teaching.
"Women who have families are being locked up or losing custody of their children, and the social costs have yet to be calculated," said Larry Bennett, the study's principal investigator. "We want to look at the effects, not only of drugs, but of the criminal justice response to drugs, and what that means for children and families of women."
Statistics show that:
* Nearly 80 percent of female prisoners in the United States have a history of drug abuse * Two-thirds of incarcerated women in the U.S. have dependent children * One in every 129 adult women is on probation or parole
(Source Greenfeld & Snell, 1999, "Women Offenders")
During the project, UIC faculty will work with senior substance-abuse researchers. They envision building a substance-abuse research program centered at the Jane Addams college.
Headed by Bennett, the researchers will conduct three pilot studies to determine what will help women successfully leave prison, avoid returning to prison or drugs, and take care of their children once they're released.
The first study will investigate the impact of social services on substance-abusing mothers who have lost custody of their children. The second study will examine the social service, employment, housing and drug treatment needs of female ex-inmates in North Lawndale -- a neighborhood with a large number of female ex-offenders. The third study will look at the influence of HIV on caregivers of children whose mothers have a history of substance abuse and are currently in the criminal justice system.
Called the Jane Addams Substance Abuse Research Collaboration, the project will build on the college's tradition of academic and community collaboration, says Bennett, a social work professor. It's a joint effort involving the college and researchers in other UIC units, including the School of Public Health and departments of criminal justice, psychiatry, urban planning and public administration.
UIC will also work with Loyola University's criminal justice department and with a number of social service agencies, including TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities).
The grant will pay for a minority research fellowship, an advisory board of senior research associates, and for substance-abuse research seminars and conferences. UIC is one of six social work programs nationwide picked to receive the grant.
In addition to its substance-abuse research, the Jane Addams College of Social Work serves as home to the Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center; the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center; the Midwest Latino Health, Research, Training, and Policy Center; the Kinship Care Practice Project; and the Jane Addams Center for Social Policy and Research.
For more information about the college, visit www.uic.edu/jaddams/college/
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