SUD And Child Abuse Essay

The child welfare system according to “Parental Substance use and the Child Welfare System” (2009) include services and programs aimed to improve the well-being of children by making sure of their safety, achieving permanency, and by increasing the strength of families to successfully care for the children (Parental Substance Use and the Child Welfare System, 2009). Parental substance abuse has been linked to maltreatment and inadequacy to provide suitable care for children. This paper will be divided into headings as follows: needs for assessment, problem statement, goals and objectives of the National Center for Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), program design, and evidenced-based intervention

Child abuse in America is an ongoing problem and something needs to be done. There are approximately one million children abused annually in the United States. (Table 339) Cases of child abuse and neglect are reported every ten seconds, and researchers believe that there’s three times that amount that goes unnoticed. (Child Abuse: Know the Signs and Stop the Violence Against Children.) Something needs to be done for these children who are too weak and too powerless to help themselves.

“The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” states’ that “child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under the age of eighteen.” Child abuse occurs when adults inflict violence and cruelty upon children. Abuse is any willful act that results in physical, mental, or sexual injury that causes or is likely to cause the child to be physically, mental, or emotionally impaired. Abuse happens to children of any age, sex, race, religion, and social status.

Growing up with substance abuse parents can potentially put the children at risk for developmental deficiencies. Parents who are substance dependent are oftentimes focus on themselves over their children, and this leads to neglecting the children. Without the attachment with the parents, children are lack of security and trust to explore the outside world. According to Erik Erikson, children develop at different stage. Infants are totally dependent on their parents. If parents provide the good care and support to the children, they will develop the basic trust to their parents and the world, otherwise, they will feel insecure and develop mistrust instead. This mistrust may cause problems later in life. As children begin to grow and navigate the challenges of adolescence, parental substance abuse has a direct impact on their well-being, as well as their behavior. Teenagers are eager to seek their identities. Yet, growing up with mistrust, inferiority, and shame

Although the agency pushes for legal charges against adults who involve in child abuse, the agency usually goes beyond the charges. In ach and very case that is reported, the agency attempts to understand the underlying factors of the abuse. The agency has realized that parents who abused alcohol where for times more likely to abuse their children than the parents who did not abuse alcohol. In such cases, most instances of abuse occurred when the parents were intoxicated. Further, substance abuse has also been related to recurrence of child neglect and abuse. Studies have shown that parents who abuse substances are most likely to abuse their children continually that parents who do not abuse substances. In literature review, parents who are normal and who are not abusing any drugs of

At times, the community is unsafe and damaging to the child’s development with current research, they are finding that environmental factors with a high crime rate, poverty, acts of violence and high drug distribution are top contributors that can lead to abuse. This can result in depression, substance abuse and social isolation from the parent and are seen more likely to experience abuse or maltreatment. Although abuse in itself is contributing factor, the likely hood increases with age. During the interview Kaleb discussed how substance abuse in itself can be a leading factor on its own. From his statistics, from the Child Welfare League of America about 40 to 80 percent of families affected by substance abuse. Which as a result of issues of substance abuse the child is more at risk of sexual abuse from the caregivers. Substance abuse often creates a domino effect for the child later in life, such as young pregnancy, problems in school, incarcerated in as a juvenile and the inability to cope with the trauma they experienced. He also stated that substance abusers are the most difficult to treat since many adults do not want to seek proper treatment and more likely to have their child permanently removed to long care foster

This is how? Families in the States of America are viewed as the basic source of strength, providing nurturance as well as the support for its individual members while ensuring stability and generational continuity for the community versus its culture. The sense of rapid social, economic and political change turns to affect the family and reduces their sense of the relationship between people, groups, and even places. According to research, stability of relationships, expectations, as well as the environment which is a very powerful force that helps people to manage their lives, most especially the young adults and the children. Having said that, classical issues of balancing discipline and control of children with the support, which encourages them to explore and understand the world may be complicated by abusing the use of alcohol and drugs as well as a wide range of other conditions (unodc.org). In other words, family experience with and parental attitudes towards alcohol and other drug use affect a child’s likelihood of developing alcohol and other drug problems. Also, the act of poor management, lack of family bonding, poor monitoring of a child’s behavior and that of physical abuse and or neglect are possible risk factors that allowed or give room for

Research indicates that children exposed to parental substance use are at increased risk for exposure to trauma and neglect (Kandel, 1990), linking with an increased risk for later developing SUDs (Mills, Teesson, Ross, & Peters, 2006 as cited in Khoury et al., 2010). Yet, as previously stated there is little research to show the modifying affects that treatment and recovery can have on the children of substance abusers.

Substance abuse is a prominent psychiatric disorder that continues to be one of the main complex issues impacting public health today (Hser, Lanza, Li, Kahn, Evans, & Schulte, 2013). Children affected by maternal substance misuse of are at high risk for a wide variety of negative outcomes including: emotional, developmental, social, cognitive, and behavioral issues as well as challenges in academic functioning (Stamler & Yiu, 2012). The main reason these children are at risk is because from conception to throughout their childhood, their environment has been compromised by an accumulation of social determinants of health. These may include poverty, low maternal education, instability of income, poor

In 2009, more than eight million children in the United States resided in households where their primary caregiver was dependent on substance use (HHS, 2009). Substance Use disorder (SA) is defined as exhibiting one or more of the four criteria while consuming alcohol or illicit drugs: failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home, situations in which it is physically hazardous, situations persistent substance-related legal problems, social or interpersonal problems caused by or exacerbated by the effects of the substance (American Psychiatric Association, 2005). One out of four children affected by SA will develop psychological, physical, and social health complications, and a tenth

The substance abuse of a parent has a lasting and apparent effect on all young children. There are a number of substances that can become a problem in people’s lives, including but not limited to; marijuana, alcohol, stimulants, depressants, narcotics, hallucinogens and inhalants. Drugs critically affect the individual taking them, but also affect the members of the household, especially children. Not only does the person’s addiction emotionally, mentally, and physically affect the individual lives of other members of the family, but it tears apart relationships between the families. Arguments, disagreements, violence, and stress can derive from the abuse of drugs because of the tension it puts on one’s other members of the family.

Along with illegal behavior often a substance abuser will find themselves as homeless, spending their paychecks on their habits of using substances (Tracy, 2005). Children of abusers are affected by both possessing negative role models that set the example that drug use is not wrong and sometimes the children are placed into the care of the community because of neglect and abuse by the substance user (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health [CDC], 2009). Other medical, social, and economic issues also are being experienced from substance abuse and use.

Drug addiction is a serious issue in not only America today, but globally. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences” (“What is drug addiction?”). Drug abuse affects not only the user, but those around the user as well. The actions of a drug user place a significant amount of worry on the people that are closest to them such as friends and family. Children with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can be severely affected by the actions of their parents which can cause them much harm in terms of biological and

Children can be subjected to the negative effects of parental substance use in a variety of different ways. For example, substance use during pregancy can cause detrimental outcomes for newborn infants by placing them at a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), being born with birth defects, developing behavioral and developmental delays, being born premature, etc. Children with addicted parents, are placed at a higher risk of: lacking appropriate supervision; lacking basic needs such as: food, clothing, housing, and medical care; exposure to violence; developing substance abuse issues themselves.

People may not be aware, but any one of their peers, friends, or neighbors may be victims of child abuse. Every day, someone experiences physical, emotional, neglect, and/or sexual abuse. Abuse can lead to death or injury for the rest of a victim's life, from either the perpetrator or themselves. In order to prevent child abuse society must: recognize the types of abuse, understand common causes of abuse, know the characteristics of abusers, and realize the effects abuse has, not just on the child, but on families and communities across the world.