The Effects of Children of Drug Addicted Parents

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Drugs and alcohol have been used for medical and recreational purposes throughout history. With advancement of technology it has become easier and easier to access these substances. It is not only illegal drugs but prescription drugs that are being misused and wreaking havoc across the world. Even with billions of dollars being paid out to stop the war on drugs, the problem persists. People from all walks of life have been affected by drugs or are becoming drug addicts themselves. One particular group afflicted by the misuse of these substances is the children of drug addicted parents. According to Cattapan and Grimwade, “Drug use seen in one generation affects the lives of the next”. Children with one or both parents on drugs face huge disadvantages. They suffer from physical abuse, and emotional trauma with lifelong effects and their family unit is torn apart. Social institutions are being overloaded with the need to help or relocate these children.
Parent(s) should be able to provide a stable and loving environment for their children to grow up in, unfortunately, for drug addicted parents this feat seems impossible. Addicts must satisfy their own needs over anything else (Street, Whitlingum, Gibson, Cairns, and Ellis 2011). The high cost of drugs and their bizarre side effects cause rocky, unpredictable daily lives for the children of these addicts. Estimates show “…6 million children live with a parent who abuses alcohol or other drugs” (Taylor 2011). Children that reside with substance abusing parents enter into a perpetual cycle of physical abuse, neglect and emotional trauma. Numerous children raise themselves and/or their siblings because their parent(s) are either too drugged up to tend to their needs or are not home at ...

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...nless, the will of the child is stronger than the desire to use drugs or alcohol the child will become veterans to an illegal lifestyle.
Children of drug abusive parents enter into a world with a handicap; a life of stability is unfamiliar to these innocent children. Addicts do whatever is necessary to get their next fix even if it means exploiting their child. Even when a child is removed from the immediate danger and go to live with other family members, the emotional scars remain. These children are bound to act out and behave in an aggressive manner due to the hardships they have faced. If these children do not receive help through counseling or other means, the cycle of addiction will continue. Our capacity as humans to love, to assist, our connection with each other is enough reason to care about the lives of these children. It could be someone you know.

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