Improving Access to Treatment for Parents Involved in Child Welfare

For Ally Dir, PhD, HSPP, improving substance use disorder treatment means looking beyond whether effective services exist and asking whether people can actually access them.

Dir is a clinical psychologist and researcher whose work focuses on improving care for people with substance use disorders, particularly those involved in complex systems such as child welfare and juvenile justice. Her current work centers on parents involved in the child welfare system who may need substance use services.

“I’m broadly interested in how we can improve care and access to care for individuals with substance use,” Dir says, especially for vulnerable populations involved in systems where treatment needs are often identified but not always adequately addressed.

Her interest in this work grew from early research on substance use risk and later from clinical training, where she saw how stigma can shape the care people receive. For parents involved in child welfare, that stigma can be layered. They may face judgment related to substance use, parenting and system involvement, all while trying to navigate treatment, family responsibilities and child welfare requirements.

One misconception Dir hopes to challenge is the idea that if a parent struggles to engage in treatment, it means they do not care for their children or do not want to change. In reality, barriers can appear at every stage from being referred to treatment to completing treatment, and parents often have to navigate complicated legal systems as well as multiple system and treatment requirements that can feel unmanageable.

“We know that there are treatments that exist that can help these parents,” Dir says. “I’m trying to better understand why those treatments aren’t in place, and even if they are in place, what are the barriers to parents actually engaging in those services.”

That is where implementation science becomes central. Dir’s work examines not only treatment itself, but also the systems, workflows, partnerships and assumptions that determine whether treatment reaches families in real-world settings.

Through community engagement and data-driven strategies, Dir is working with parents who have lived experience in the child welfare system to shape research questions, data collection and interpretation. Their perspectives help identify barriers that may not be visible from the system side alone.

Dir was drawn to the C-DIAS Fellowship because of its specific focus on both addiction and implementation science. The fellowship has helped sharpen her understanding of how implementation science can be used to not only ensure evidence-based treatments are available but also to address gaps within and between larger systems that interact with individuals with addiction.

If this work succeeds, Dir hopes policies and practices will better support both treatment access and family connection.

Outside of work, Dir spends as much time outdoors as she can. Living in Indiana, she jokes that it is hard to call it hiking, but she enjoys trail walking, being near the water and finding ways to get outside. She also recently welcomed her baby, Max, and is adjusting to life with a new baby, two cats and a dog.

At its core, her work asks a practical but urgent question: What would it take for substance use treatment to truly reach the families who need it?