Parents Abuse Drugs example essay topic

Parents who use drugs risk neglecting or causing serious harm to their children. This harm might be mainly emotional, but occasionally might be physical. The National Clearing House on Child Abuse and Neglect Information reports, that parents who abuse drugs come from all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds, and all socioeconomic levels. Many substance abusing parents report histories of significant childhood deprivation. Often, this history includes an early home life marked by family violence, parental substance abuse, or parental psychiatric disorders.

Parents who grew up in such environments often report deprivation in many areas of their lives- economic, physical, social and emotional. Many substance abusing parents also recount histories of growing up in households in which there was a blurring of boundaries between parental and child roles. Frequently, the emotional and protective needs of parents who experienced deprivation were neglected. Adults who grew up in such homes may have difficulty remembering occasions when warmth and affection were freely and consistently expressed. Significant numbers of substance abusing parents report histories of severe neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse during their childhood and teenage years.

As adults, such parents are more likely to become involved in unhealthy and abusive relationships. Moreover having grown up in homes in which parenting was unpredictable and discipline often abusive, chemically involved parents frequently are ill equipped to provide effective parenting for their own children (NC on Child Abuse and Family Violence). The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in Australia says", The misuse of drugs can affect the way people parent and care for their children. Children need their parents to be available to meet their various needs.

Parents who use drugs are often not able to provide this nurturing and care". Yolanda Vargas, a recovering addict from Montgomery County, Maryland says, "I took drugs three days before my daughter was born. Nothing was more important to me than using drugs. I knew I needed help, but it was getting there that was difficult. Six months after my daughter was born I checked into rehab because I realized I couldn't provide a good environment for her ' (Peter Guerra). The use of precious resources to pay for drugs often results in lack of food, heat, or adequate clothing for children.

Poor child health and hygiene can be the result when parents are so preoccupied with getting high that they fail to attend to everyday issues, like making sure their children are clean and that they get regular medical and dental checkups (Massachusetts Citizens for Children). Drug abuse can also lead to physical and sexual abuse. Studies show that more than a third of children with a parent who misuses drugs suffer some form of child abuse or neglect (NAP CAN Australia). This is not because parents addicted to drugs do not love their children, but because of the overwhelming effect of the drug on the child.

Children whose parents abuse drugs are three times more likely to be abused than children from non-abusing families (National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence). The abuse of illicit substances can cause or contribute to violent behavior. A 1998 National Center report on substance abuse within the prison population found that sixty percent of adults arrested in the U. S for violent crime tested positive for drugs. Sexual abuse among these children is not uncommon since they are often exposed to non-related adults. Even when substance abusing parents are in the home, their condition may not allow any meaningful protection. Because drugs lead to a lowering of inhibitions in many people, children of drug abusers face a higher rise of sexual abuse by their own parents (Massachusetts Citizens for Children).

Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in Bethesda, Md. said, "that parents with addiction problems are the greatest risk factor for neglected children". Leshner spoke on the connection between using drugs and child maltreatment. He said the reasons why adults use drugs gives clues to why they are more likely to neglect their children. Leshner said "that the nature of the addiction was in essence, a brain disease that is compulsion to use. Compulsion is the most powerful force in human nature. The need to use becomes a more powerful motivator over a mother's love.

Therefore chemically addicted parents are more likely to abuse and neglect their children because the child's needs simply get in the way of the parents need to use drugs", Leshner concluded. He said that the number one prediction of adolescent substance abuse was growing up with chemically addicted parents. The other two were maternal drug use and environment, he said (Peter Guerra). Many children who are prenatally exposed to drugs never go home with their parents and are placed in the foster care system at birth. In a study of 10 hospitals, an estimated 1,200 of the 4,000 drug exposed infants born in 1989 were placed in foster care.

Even if drug exposed children remain in the care of their families after birth, many enter the social services system later, because of the chaotic and often dangerous environment associated with parental drug abuse. Families abusing drugs, whose children are placed in foster homes, are more likely than other families with children in foster care to include mothers with less education, to be poorly housed, and to receive Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) prior to placement. Additionally children from families in which drugs are abused are more likely to enter the foster- care system at a younger age than those placed from the general population. The median age of children placed in the foster-care system because of parental drug abuse is 4.7 years, as compared to 7.5 years for other children (Lynn M. Johnson). Children from homes in which substance abuse occurs may be at higher risk for multiple foster-care placements. These children often exhibit difficult and frustrating behaviors, requiring greater skills and care-taking on the part of the foster parents.

Consequently, children from families in which drugs are abused can represent a special challenge to the foster care system. According to a recent report by the National Black Child Development Institute, our nation's child welfare system is inadequate and is not effectively " coping with the problems and magnitude of maternal drug related cases coming into the system. This is illustrated by low discharge rates, low rates of reunification with biological parents, low rates of adoption, infrequent parent-child and parent-caseworker visiting, and inadequate services essential for reunification" (Connect for Kids. org). Substance abuse also creates a complex set of choices for child welfare professionals, who must determine the safest option for children whose parents may or may not recover from their addiction. The majority of children entering foster care eventually return to their parents. However, many re-enter the system at a later date.

For children who experience multiple placements into foster care in recent years an increasing number of children have left foster care only to re-enter because their parents are unable or unwilling to provide a stable, nurturing family environment, even when services are offered, agencies must pursue adoption or placement with relatives as a permanent plan for the children (Connect for Kids. org). Children of substance abusing parents are at high risk of developing their own substance abuse problems later on. For children growing up in these homes who are entering adolescence or adulthood drugs can be a way to cope with depression, low self-esteem, and other psychological effect of their victimization. Their early use of substances may lad to aggressive, delinquent or anti-social behaviors that are themselves risks for substance abuse (Massachusetts Citizens for Children).

One explanation for the continuing cycle is the secrecy, denial, and stigma involved in both problems. Many child maltreatment cases do not get reported and many children of drug abusers go unidentified. Within both populations, victims are often afraid to speak up because they do not think anyone will believe them. Often they do not realize that what seems to be normal behavior is indeed maltreatment, and learn to repeat these behaviors unconsciously. The lack of positive parental role modeling and lack of development of coping skills increases the difficulty of establishing healthy relationships as an adult. It may not be until they seek help as disturbed adults that they are made cognizant of the root of their emotional problem (National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence).

However, the majority of adult children of drug abusers lead happy, healthy, and productive lives. They function as well as the average person, because of the coping skills they have learned early on in life (Peter Guerra). Reasonable efforts to keep families intact in cases of parental substance abuse might include: judicial supervision of structured community-based treatment, timely identification of defendants in need of treatment and referral of treatment as soon as possible after arrest, regular status hearings before the judicial officer to monitor treatment progress and regular problem compliance, increasing defendant accountability through a series of graduated sanctions and rewards, and mandatory periodic drug testing (Peter Guerra). The family support approach requires effective prevention programs and community-based links among treatment and prevention providers. It calls for a three part strategy: averting out-of home placements of children, expediting permanency plans when placement is needed, and supporting the re- integration of the family and the community following placement.

One size does not fit all- systems and communities are at different stages of readiness to make change (Margo Matz dorf). I currently am caring for two infants that come from homes where their parents are drug abusers. They came into my family through the Foster-Care system. In my opinion I do not think these parents deserve another chance with their children. Children need love and guidance and these parents are too busy worrying about getting high. It is very hard to completely stop using drugs even if they do get help.

These children deserve a home where they can be loved and appreciated, and I think if doing drugs is more important than caring for your child, then they do not deserve to be parents. Drugs have such a devastating effect on children mentally, physically, and emotionally. These babies in my home are cocaine babies. They both suffer from reflux disease as a result from the cocaine. Seeing them struggle every day makes me angry that these parents are going to get them back someday. These particular children were affected during pregnancy, but we have cared for other children who weren't.

Their situations were so bad it just wasn't livable. Their houses and physical conditions were terrible. They had not been bathed or changed for weeks, or even fed, because all their money went to drugs. I see them look confused when they realize they are with people they have never seen before. The worst part is hearing the horror stories of what they have already been through in life at such a young age. I feel in some way my family and I are making a difference in these children's lives.

We get them strong and healthy and hopefully build up their trust and confidence. In conclusion, I hope these parents do not get these children back because they do not deserve them. I hope they get put in families where they can be safe and loved and grow up to be happy, healthy adults who will raise good families.