By Michele Corey: For More Info, Go Here…
Tens of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Michiganders are struggling with substance use disorders as the Opioid Crisisconsumes our nation’s attention and resources. But what of the impact on children born to and living with parents entangled in this overwhelming challenge?
Nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatricsestimates 8.7 million children have a parent who suffers from a substance use disorder, leading to higher foster care placements due to abuse and neglect, serious health problems for infants born into substance use, and trauma which left unaddressed could lead to concerns during childhood and adulthood, such as school failure, obesity and heart disease, and even substance use in their own lives.
Once in the foster care system, youth with parents who use substances tend to experience a higher likelihood of problems themselves. In one year alone, between 2016 and 2017, Michigan experienced an 8 percent increase in children entering the foster care system due to their parent’s drug misuse, with more than a third (36 percent) of all removals statewide, according to a Child Trends publication. Half of the child removal cases in the first two months of this year in Ingham County came from homes where substance use disorder was identified, according to the Ingham County Health Department’s Opioid Surveillance Report (February 2019).
