▼ The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of child welfare caseworkers’ perceptions of the service needs in the system and to evaluate the attitudes that caseworkers have toward parents with a drug addiction. The first objective of this study is to raise awareness of the needs and challenges currently facing the child welfare field, and to generate conversation as to what possible solutions exist. The second objective is to provide information to those in the field concerning which entities need to begin communicating more and sharing information in order to better serve this at-risk client population. The major research questions are: What mandates placed upon caseworkers by the government, judicial system, and administration of their agencies, make it hard for them to reunite families with a drug addiction problem? Do caseworkers feel that they are realistic and fair in their expectations of, and work with, parents with a drug addiction? What issues do they face as a result of their limited budgetary resources? How could our nation and our child welfare agencies better serve such clients? This pilot exploratory, qualitative study found answers to these questions through in-depth interviews with nine caseworkers from a child protective services agency. The finding of this study was that there are multiple service needs within the system that must be addressed in order to better serve clients and reunite children with drug-free parents. This thesis concludes with limitations, implications of the study, and directions for further research. Advisors/Committee Members: Stone, Glenn.