Child Protection in Response to Public Health Crises: Evidence from the Opioid Epidemic

Jeongsoo Suh (Duke University) will present a paper examining how the opioid epidemic affected child maltreatment and the response of Child Protective Services in the United States.

Using the reformulation of OxyContin as a natural experiment, the study will show that opioid exposure increased maltreatment allegations, while institutional protective responses failed to scale accordingly, highlighting the broader social and intergenerational consequences of public health crises.