Parenting and Substance Abuse Essay Assignment Paper
Parenting and Substance Abuse Essay Assignment Paper
As a social worker, you will meet children and adolescents who are in complicated family situations and may require a variety of resources for support. There are many times when these situations involve drug abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, and/or neglect. If these factors are present within a child?s or adolescent?s environment, it will impact their development.Parenting and Substance Abuse Example As mandated reporters, social workers are legally required to report any suspicion they have of child abuse or neglect to local authorities in an effort to ensure a healthier environment within which they can grow.
For this Discussion, review the case study ?Working With Clients With Addictions: The Case of Barbara and Jonah.? Consider this week?s reading in the Learning Resources.
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1. Post an explanation of influences of Barbara?s addiction on Jonah?s future development.
2. Describe an intervention that you would use for Jonah if you were the social worker in this case.
3. Use the Learning Resources to support your answer.
Substance misuse causes considerable harm and is presently an immense global issue of public concern. It is a wide-ranging problem, damaging individuals, families and entire communities. In general, substance misuse is not only growing considerably within the United Kingdom, but also worldwide. Simultaneously, the number of children involved in the vicious circle of drug taking and problem drinking by their parents is also increasing. Although governments, policy makers and practitioners are recognizing the problem and taking steps towards tackling the effects of substance abuse within families; the issue in general seems far from being solved.
Alcohol is legally available and easily accessible throughout England. It is positively associated with socializing, relaxing and celebrating. Although problems linked to excessive alcohol consumption are widespread and well established, it seems that alcohol misuse is somehow more socially accepted and does not have the same stigma as using drugs. Consequently, the issue of alcohol abuse, especially in families with children, often remains undiscovered, and the negative impact and effects of the excessive drinking behaviour of parents on children remain under-recognized and neglected. Estimates by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit (2004) are that between 780,000 and 1,3 million children in England are (in)directly affected by an alcohol problem of at least one parent – in other words: 1 in 11 children live in a household where alcohol misuse is present.Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
While alcohol and the negative consequences associated with its uncontrolled use have been around and well documented for centuries, the drug industry has only been developing and growing rapidly over the last few years. Concordant with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (2003) up to 300,000 children – or 3% of all children under 16 – currently belong to a family where one or two of their parents struggle with a dangerous drug issue.
Parental substance misuse is also not unheard of in social services caseloads with one quarter to one third of families known to social services as being involved with misusing drugs or alcohol (Cleaver et al., 1999; Kearney et al., 2003). Many of these children do at least temporarily not live with their addicted parents.
Putting these figures together, more than 10% of all children in England are exposed to suffer under the effects of their parental drug or alcohol misuse and it is extremely likely that these numbers will continue to grow over the following years.Parenting and Substance Abuse Example It seems also reasonable to believe that the official figures of affected children may be under-estimating the true scale of the problem as it is extremely difficult to calculate how many families have to cope with some form or the other of substance abuse (Templeton, 2006). First, not all drug and alcohol services take proper care to establish whether or not their clients are also parents and second, not all clients are willing to provide information about the existence of own children. Third, some institutions do not disclose figures, collect data properly or tend to under-report; and fourth, nobody knows how many substance misuse r are not seeking treatment and, therefore do not appear on any official statistics (Keen et al., 2001; ACMD, 2003). Consequently, missing data and a clear underestimate of the total number of affected children by parental substance misuse seem obvious.
Substance abuse can include negative physical (such as health risks and neglect), psychological (such as attachment disorders and depression) as well as social (such as poverty and crime) influences on both parents and their children (Kroll et al., 2000). Parental alcohol and drug abuse can affect children’s health and development in the long term from as early as conception and often into adulthood, leading to varying forms of strong, adverse and complex consequences (Turning Point, 2006). Additionally, all conceivable types of child maltreatment have repeatedly been associated and clarified in various studies with parental substance abuse – including negligence (as the most common type of abuse), sexual, emotional and physical abuse (Cleaver et al., 1999; Alison, 2000; Forrester et al., 2006). The impact of alcohol and/or drugs may also significantly affect the parent’s capacity of adequate parenting (Alison, 2000). The negative impact of a dependency on the substance misuser himself can lead to chaotic lifestyles, complicating and preventing parents to support and care for their own children, meeting their basic needs and providing a safe and encouraging home environment (Keen et al., 2001; Home Office, 2008).Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
With the knowledge that parental misuse of certain substances can have a seriously negative impact on children’s physical, psychological and emotional health and development, it is essential that these children potentially at risk are identified as early as possible in order to arrange for appropriate protection and safeguard their welfare (Nottingham City, 2004). This is the responsibility of all professionals in different ranges of services; they all must be able to identify and treat substance misuse related problems by adults, and also focus on the problems of affected children (Keen and Alison, 2001). Therefore, increasingly more research is being done, policy initiatives started and family-supporting services and projects have developed rapidly (Templeton et al., 2006). Although considerable progress has been made in recognizing and tackling the problem of substance abuse and the issue has won much public awareness in the last years, sadly, the death of children through the hands of their parents recalls that the system still fails to safeguard children at risk.
Professionals face a variety of often complex issues and struggle with working unimpeded. The most common problems are a lack of understanding, gaining access to the substance misuser and their children, resilience, dilemmas about confidentiality and information sharing, inter-agency tensions, assessment, lack of training and the ability to focus on both, adults’ and children’s needs (Kroll and Taylor, 2000; Taylor and Kroll, 2004). Without a doubt, changes and new approaches are needed, and through joint assessment, better information sharing and inter-agency cooperation, the focus should be on effective intervention and treatment for the substance misuser as well as of the so far often “invisible” and neglected children (Kroll and Talyor, 2000; Head of Safeguarding Children, 2008).Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
The first section of this essay describes effects and causes associated with parental substance abuse. It highlights the impact of drug and alcohol misuse on the foetus during pregnancy and later on the child from newborn to adulthood, as well as resilience and protective factors for affected children. Part two focuses on professionals: their responsibilities regarding children’s safeguarding and the challenges they face when confronted with substance misuse. The third section covers the legal framework of safeguarding children and other related political measures. The fourth section examines the progress made so far by looking at different projects, interventions implemented and recent developments. In contrast, section five gives an insight into reality, pointing out some of the most obvious problems and recent incidents. It touches thoroughly discussed issues such as information sharing, inter-agency cooperation and training. The last section considers aims and goals, their implementation and suggests recommendations for a more effective strategy in the future.
Throughout this article substance misuse/abuse refers to the use – either dependant use or associated with adverse effects – of prescribed (such as tranquilizers, sleeping pills, pain-killers, depressants) and illicit (such as opioids, cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis) drugs as well as alcohol (Newcastle Child Protection, 2002) with critical social, interpersonal, financial, physical and psychological negative effects for both the users and those around them (ACMD, 2003).Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
Any substance which flows through a pregnant woman’s blood stream; whether it be positive or negative, debilitating or helpful, will pass through placental walls to the developing child she carries. If one considers how negatively toxic substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine affect the physical and mental state of a fully developed and healthy adult, it is possible to understand how devastating the effects these same substances have on a child in utero and throughout the course of their development. Examining prevalence rates and current research in the area of how exposure to the aforementioned substances affects children’s physical, developmental, cognitive and social growth can reveal a clear picture of the nature of this phenomenon. Taking into account the numerous myths surrounding substance abuse in general, but especially in regards to pregnancy, closer study of the effects cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine enact upon the developing fetus is warranted.
Pregnancy can be a difficult time without the added burden of substance use or addiction. A mother-to-be finds herself responsible not only for her personal health, but that of another developing person. To that end most pregnant women attend regularly scheduled doctor visits, take vitamin supplements and join some form of exercise or Lamaze class to make the pregnancy easier. The most critical stage of pregnancy is the first trimester when the zygote becomes an embryo upon attaching to the uterine walls and the embryo develops into the shape and likeness of a human being. Although only 1-3 inches in length, the embryo already has developed internal organs such as a heart, liver, and stomach, all of which begin to respond and function on their own during the first trimester. Facial features, appendages, muscles, and sex organs have formed and continue to take on more concrete shape.Parenting and Substance Abuse Example During the course of the second trimester, the fetus develops more voluntary and involuntary action such as blinking, grasping, inhaling and crying. The fetus typically measures 10 inches and weighs approximately ½ a pound. Although still highly susceptible to toxins in their mother’s body, the fetus at this stage is more fully formed and so at less risk for damage than during the first trimester. The third trimester signals the end of the usual 40 week gestation period and the child’s preparedness to leave the womb. (cite)
In the year 1992-1993, the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institute of Health surveyed pregnant women to ascertain the amount of drug use among pregnant women as part of the National Pregnancy and Health Survey. (www.nida.nih.gov, 2004) This national survey found that of the four million women surveyed, 820,000 smoked cigarettes while pregnant, 757,000 drank alcohol, 221,000 used illegal drugs and of those illegal drug users 45,000 used cocaine. These numbers are alarming because they illustrate that over 20% of pregnant American women expose their children to the dangers of smoking, drinking and illegal drug use. (www.nida.nih.gov, 2004) Cigarette smoking appears as the substance of choice for these women, a choice which is reflected in national trends of substance use. (cite)Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
There tends to be some underlying similarities in the mothers who smoke when they are pregnant. Some of these similarities tend to be that mothers who smoke while they are pregnant are more likely to have dropped out of school, be of lower socio-economic status, and they are more likely to be currently living with a smoker (Haslam & Lawrence 2004). Also, mothers who smoke while they are pregnant are more likely to consumer alcohol as well during their pregnancy; in the first trimester 27’% of women who smoke drank alcohol, in the second trimester that increased to 35% and in the third there were 34% of women who drank and smoked while pregnant (Haslam et al 2004). A major problem for mothers who smoke while they are pregnant is that they are less likely to take the proper amount of folic acid, which is extremely import for women and even more important when pregnant (Haslam et al 2004). Also, the diet of a smoker typically “contains significantly less thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin C, corticoids, and iron than a nonsmoker’s diet” (Matthews. Yudkin, Smith & Neil, 2000, as cited in Haslam et al. 2004). Also, part of the problem is some of these women do not know that they need folic acid and certain vitamins while they are pregnant (Haslam et al 2004). Parenting and Substance Abuse Example
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