Similar to the cycle of abuse, in which the abused often become abusers, individuals who grow up witnessing substance abuse are at a higher risk of imitating that dangerous behavior.
In Jefferson County, children living in, or removed from, homes that have a substance abuse problem primarily are dealt with by the Jefferson County Human Services Department.
All too often, the drug of choice is heroin or another type of opioid.
“Unfortunately, almost all of our kids are impacted by heroin or opioids, or their families are,” Jefferson County Human Services Director Kathi Cauley, said. “It’s terribly, terribly heartbreaking for these children. The outcomes for children raised in foster care are not good … So we don’t want children in foster care, and any child that is in foster care wants to live with Mom and Dad regardless if Mom and Dad are heroin addicts or in jail or a criminal — they’re Mom and Dad.”
[For more of this story, written by Alexa Zoellner, go to http://www.dailyunion.com/news...9b-33a96259c416.html]
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