The mental health of children born to drug addicted parents has been a topic in recent years. Heroin is a dangerous drug which over the decades has resulted in a lot of death and depression. Parents addicted to drugs like heroin leave their kids at risk, abandoned or leave them as orphans. Kids in this condition do not have the kind of parental care and love they need.  

In no way can heroin or drug abuse lead to positive effects in one’s life. Heroine is known to addicts as a stress reliever- but it’s also a system destroyer. Heroin damages the lungs, heart, brain, intestines, and kidneys; it also can lead to infections. According to research, more than 16 million people are abusing heroin each year with half of that number being parents. About 5,927 died after using heroin in 2012 which after a year, jumped to 8,260 according to CNN. Some addicted parents have no control over their reactions which leads them to mistreat their children; consistently leaving their kids, habitually ignoring them and their needs, giving their children less attention and expressing a behavior that makes children feel uncomfortable. 

A recent study that evaluated the offspring of parents who abused heroin and alcohol concluded that the children of heroin addicted parents had eight times more risk of suffering from Depressive Disorder, three times of ADHD and sixteen times more risk of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) than the control children (“Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy”). There is always a possibility for there to be a problem in the growth of a child or adolescent born to an addicted mother, such as high risk psychiatric problems. According to American Society of Addiction Medicine, “In 2015, an estimated 21, 000 adolescents had used heroin in the past year, and an estimated 5, 000 were current heroin users. In addition, estimated 6,000 adolescents had a heroin use disorder.” If an adolescent is a heroin addict, there is a chance that trait was gained from an addicted parent. But not all adolescent heroin users have heroin or drug addicted parents. Almost half of young people who use heroin today started with prescription opioids, according to studies.

In an interview, Deborah Feyerick observed about a generation of heroin orphans on Monday May 1, 2017. According to the interview, there were five kids that -been raised by their grandparents, Sandra and Michael Flynn. Sandra Flynn calls her home, “The Zoo” impossible to be quiet in their house with all seven people living there. Grandparents said in the interview the children have lived with them for 6 years since April 23, 2011. Deborah asked the eldest kid, Willa, the last time she saw her mom and she said, “Five years ago when I was 10.” Hearing her speak you could feel the sorrow in her words. In one of Sandra’s words she says, “She just disappeared. No one knew where she was. They (children) were born addicted to drugs .The state came and said she could not care for them anymore, so they asked us if we could take all five, and we said why not.” The mother neglected all five of her children for six years, only for them to become a burden on the grandparents after she went disappeared. And because Sandra and Michael did not have a lot of resources to take care of their grandchildren, they are unable to properly take care of them. They need support from the state, but it is refused unlike like foster parents which are been supported to take care of the kids they are given.

These five children been neglected by their mother for six years due to drug addictions is part of what most children go through with some drug addicted parents. Children who are taken from their parents are not raised by their caring and responsible relatives or any loving foster parent. There is also a possibility for them to lead a bad life outside of their heroin addiction. HIV infection is one of the most common problems associated with heroin, which in a sample, 55.6% of mothers had HIV infection. (“Journal of Addiction Research and Therapy”)

Be a brother’s keeper today, and prevent the number of deaths caused each day due to drug addiction and save majority of kids from becoming orphans tomorrow. “Comfort is beauty muted by heroin,” said by Luke Davies.

References

https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/

https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/heroin

http://drugabuse.com/library/heroin-history-and-statistics/

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/children-born-to-heroinaddicted-mothers-whats-the-outcome-years-later-2155-6105-1000180.php?aid=25615

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/health/heroin-orphans-feyerick/index.htm

http://www.narconon.org/blog/drug-addiction/how-children-are-affected-by-drug-addicted-parents-2/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2888319/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-a-new-direction-on-drugs-2/

http://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/14/health/heroin-deaths-increase/