Great reporting! This article cogently delves into the crazy quilt world of growing up in the swirl of chemical addiction.
I had that kind of childhood and found a stable and loving home life with my grandparents for several years and later thrived on the stability of the military. Though proclaiming I would never repeat my parent's life, I unwittingly proceeded to do just that. Now, I'm entering my 43rd year of uninterrupted recovery from alcoholism and drug abuse, and have been giving back for decades.
There are many ways, directly and indirectly, of giving back. For myself, the "in spite of's" of yesterday have gradually transformed into "because of's". My yesterdays are now my strong suit for helping others.
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I’m raising my grandson . He has been with me since he was 3 months old. Meth parents . He is 11 now and doing great .
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Two very impressive young women. Their attitudes can serve as examples for us all. And what aunts and uncles they have!
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My sister raised two grandkids because their mother is mentally ill and was abusing drugs. One of them spent a year in foster care as an infant, and due to emotional neglect and a lack of stimulation ended up with permanent perceptual disabilities. The other has trouble with attachments.
The message? Get these kids into stable, loving homes as soon as possible. A child's needs go way beyond basic food and shelter.
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This is a beautiful story. Sad, but true. I raised my nephew from age 12 and now hes doing great- running track at a good college. We are so proud of him and happy to help. We should be telling more of these 'helper' stories to stave off the cynicism that everyone is fighting now. Opioid addiction is awful, but really it is a symptom of a sick society. Let's build stronger communities and let's tell their stories please NYtimes ;)
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Ah yes, life in Trump territory...
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It would be so much better for everyone involved if addicts were given permanent birth control. These children will likely face similar problems, sadly.
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The children born to people struggling with addiction are an ongoing crisis that deserves attention. We need to mobilize as a society to give them support and trauma informed care. As these kids grow up we will face a crisis of unimaginable proportions and an entire generation of kids who have been steeped in trauma. The money from suing the opioid manufacturers should go to social services and support to help these kids be okay. If not we will surely watch addiction ravage yet another generation and the opioid crisis will continue to echo.
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The profiles of these people is generational drug addiction. Hopefully the teens will not fall into the mess.
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Many of the letters focused on the availability of opioids and the role of Big Pharma / the Sacklers. However, the changing economy of the last 30 years that decimated employment for rural workers and the introduction the drug culture way back in the 1960s also played a role in creating this situation. I fear that the legalization of marijuana will only heighten the problem and spread it further.
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Welcome to our new world thanks to the billionaires in the prescription drug industry. Added to the alcohol and illegal drug problems, along comes another heart breaking and family ruining addiction.
Please explain to all of us why the manufacturers, distributors and retailers will not serve prison sentences for accessories to manslaughter and murder?
Should prescribers have a responsibility here too?
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This article is about 30 years too late and with the wrong skin color of the subjects. It describes the impact on the black children of crack and cocaine addicts in the inner cities. Of course, nobody cared back then. I wonder why. . .
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@Richard Exactly.
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I teach in a school where kids are frequently designated hhi, or " homeless-highly mobile." Thank God for people like the Thurmans who value children, education and decent values. The number of my students who live with foster parents, grandparents, others would amaze many people. The number who have endured homelessness, who have experienced or witnessed violence, who have watched as parents got high or drunk, the number who have access to dangerous weapons, the number who have experienced trauma--seeing shootings, seeing mothers prostitute themselves, being propositioned or assaulted themselves, the number who live in filth, who have experienced empty cupboards and refrigerators, who have never received a birthday or Christmas gift, is staggering and heartbreaking. What have we come to in this nation when literally millions of our children live like this?
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@Eva Lockhart
And the super rich get a tax break and low income families are being harassed by the government if they
need Medicaid or Food Stamps.
Priorities and moral are perverted and corrupted in this
country -- worsened over the past three years by our
conman in chief.
Shame on the Republicans.
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@Eva Lockhart
And, sadly, if anyone from the school to the neighbors tries to help the parents **take it out** on the kids. The "parents" take every scrap from the kids to feed their addiction, abuse the kids, if the kids are old enough to earn any money it is robbed from them by these addicts. Offers to take the kids are spurned as the parents could not use them then. How sick is this!!
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Thank God for people like Christina Burns and David Boren who stepped up and provided a loving home for these children who are now flourishing. I wish nothing but the best for Hannah and James. I hope they have wonderful, fulfilling lives. They sound like really good kids who just needed a loving, safe place to live.
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Christina Burns is a hero, a savior and a strong woman. Her husband also. Thank god for generous, stable family members who provide miracles to family members in the face of generational family trauma. How does one person survive while others get pulled under?
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Grandparents and other family members pitching in to raise the next generation is a norm in most of the world. I was raised by my parents and grandparents and had a very happy childhood. So there is no need to treat this as a national emergency. What is an emergency, of course, is the terrible way these children were treated by their junkie parents. If there is an argument for enforced abortion and/or sterilization, this is it. How can junkies be allowed to have kids? And yes, the blame rests squarely with these so-called “parents”, not Big Pharma or some other convenient scapegoat. Opioids are available everywhere but these kinds of horror stories are only in America. If you want to toss your life away, it’s your call. But don’t produce kids doomed to misery and suffering.
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@Mor There is a huge difference between "pitching in" and "taking over".
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@Mor
Opioids are available everywhere, sure, but they were wildly over-prescribed for many years in America. Compared to their European counterparts, American doctors still prescribe opioids at much higher rates. When you combine that fact with the almost total absence of support services available for addicts trying to get clean, you have a recipe for tragedy.
As to your assertion that junkies shouldn't be "allowed" to have kids—it certainly doesn't help that we live in a culture that prefers to preach abstinence over safe sex. And it wasn't until the Affordable Care Act was passed that affordable, long term birth control methods became easier for women to access.
It's easy to blame the addicts, and to be clear, I say none of this in an attempt to absolve these parents of the awful trauma they have inflicted on their children. But the answer isn't even remotely as simple as you make it out to be, though it's certainly more convenient.
Mor, I believe your comment does come from a place of deep concern for the children in this story, but it is still harsh, immoral, and un-American.
If junkies were forced to have abortions, I would never have been born.
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We are foster parents to a 10-year-old child (friend of our own child at school) whose mother is an addict and small-time drug dealer. These children’s story of growing up in a situation of terrible neglect and violence in Ohio mirrors the life experience of our own foster child before she came to us. In Hawaii, it’s mainly meth—we have 3 times the death rate from meth compared to other states, and some estimates put meth use rates in Hawaii at almost 10% of our population. This drug use has overwhelmed social services and law enforcement, and legislators remain apathetic. I honestly have no idea how you even start to deal with this problem—when an adult such as our foster child’s mother refuses all services, and continues to harm herself and everyone around her every day, but is smart enough to stay under the radar of law enforcement, what do you do? Next time you visit Hawaii on vacation, keep this in mind: our idyllic paradise veneer hides some nasty realities of drug abuse, violence and shocking harm to children.
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@Em I know first hand the drug problems in Hawai'i. Grew up there and still have family there. Know a few that are raising their grand kids, nieces/nephews, and like you foster their own kid's friends due to addiction. Add that to the homelessness caused by the addictions, it is bad.
The tourist are steered away from the realities because it is a dream vacation the tourist industry insures are not seen.
Good that you are helping out the child that needs you. I believe I would do the same if there was a child like that in need.
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@Em Thank you for helping this child out. You are giving a tremendous gift. I am sorry you have to do it but am thankful that you do.
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You are looking at true heroes here, the relatives who were generous enough to take in the children when they needed a home. Best of luck to all in 2020 and beyond.
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When kids are taken away from parents who are druggies, the removal from the parents should be permanent - no excuses accepted. Drug-addled people are a scourge and a burden to the rest of us. They made their choice. We shouldn't fool around trying to rehab them. Save the kids. Let the parents try to save themselves - on their own.
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@Norm Weaver the drug-addicted mother was raised by a drug addict, who introduced her to drugs. Yes, she has done wrong but she could use some help and compassion as well.
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@Norm Weaver the drug-addicted mother was raised by a drug addict, who introduced her to drugs. Yes, she has done wrong but she could use some help and compassion as well.
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@Norm Weaver I agree with you but will add couple caveats. In my opinion, the parents should get ONE chance to step up, sober up, and do the right thing because everyone deserves a chance. However, the parents should also continue to be supervised for at least two years after sobering up, because relapse is a characteristic of addiction. And if the parent(s) relapse or neglect the child again at any time, they should lose parental rights. End of story.
Another process I would like to see implemented is the ability for child welfare agencies to share information through a nationwide database in the same way law enforcement shares criminal histories. The absence of such a database is huge loophole that endangers children. (One only needs to recall the case of the Hart family who moved from state to state until eventually the mother drove her drugged family off a California cliff.)
I lived this story. My daughter lost custody of her daughter three times, and my husband and I fostered our precious grandchild while my daughter sobered up just long enough to appease the authorities and get her back. The last time, my daughter left the state and within months she lost custody again, but we were never contacted and someone else adopted her. ALL of this horror could have been prevented had there been a system in place that actually WORKED for the child.
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Still playing your pro-alcohol 'alcohol is not a drug' games I see. Still claiming that alcohol is not a drug but marijuana is. In the real world, alcohol is way more of a dangerous drug than cannabis. Ask a scientist if you don't believe me!!! You can die of an overdose or long term abuse, or even withdrawal symptoms, or have severe health consequences, it makes people do crazy and sadistic stuff, it causes irreparable damage to fetuses but the NYTimes has gotten the idea into their head that it isn't a drug.
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@newageblues Alcohol is a sanctioned drug because the alcohol lobby is powerful and moneyed. The cultural disconnect is astounding. If I need a drug to to sleep (life long insomniac), I must be lectured, given a tiny amount, or denied. When all I want is that most basic human drive, so that I may be a productive human being. Meantime, no doctor finds it bizarre that I can, any time of the day or night, buy endless amounts of alcohol, damage my liver - or worse - kill innocents while driving. I need no script to buy thousands of dollars of one of the most lethal drugs in America. Further, the science is in: all but the most moderate consumption of alcohol is harmful to one's health. Meantime, the Sacklers are the designated bogeyman for what the alcohol industry does every day - push drugs.
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@newageblues
People don't want the truth - and admit they use the hard drug alcohol, and that it IS a drug.
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When I was 14 and my family moved from one end of Brooklyn to another, I would -- for the next 2 years of weekends -- stay in the old neighborhood with Grandma Belle (my Dad's Mom) so that I could be with my friends for life (The Carroll Street Boys ... and Girls).
But one weekend (when Grandma was away?), I stayed with Tommy B., and was 'alarmed' to find his living room floor was not hardwood-plain or covered by a rug … IT WAS COVERED BY LINOLEUM! But the 'alarm' of that disappeared when, if not even before the alarm I realized when Tommy B's huge, obviously inebriated father came home -- long after me and Tommy B. had gone to bed (in the top and the bottom of a bunkbed across the room from his sister's 'quarters') -- and woke Tommy B. for a 'little beating.'
Tommy B. would go on to be the first addict I ever knew. He died before he had 30 years.
The circumstances lived by the kids and others in this article … well … they are not so much unimaginable as I can't imagine them w/o crying.
Life deals everyone a trauma or two. Me too. But boy am I lucky.
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JUST SAY NO. (accompanied by a stern finger-wagging)
Let's recall that was the official Republican response to POC who had drug problems. Easy peasy, right? Why does that not apply for all of the white addicts we now read about? Is drug addiction no longer a byproduct of character flaws? Could it possibly be true that economic conditions and structural racism had something to do with POC's drug problems? Asking for a friend....
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At some point we HAVE to hold responsible all parents (druggies, rape fathers, all mothers, all fathers), no matter their circumstances or whereabouts. There should be a special incarceration for these people. You bring a child into the world? At the very least, you are financially responsible for their care. Don’t have the resources? Too bad, your wages are directed to the child, or you’re incarcerated. Whoa, does that mean they are forced to go cold turkey, no drugs. Yes, absolutely. Why allow a druggie who parented a child the option to continue to take drugs? They have a responsibility to the child, to themselves, and to the community. The child can’t force them to take the responsibility, if they can’t get their life together to handle the responsibility, then the community must “force” them to take responsibility.
I believe there would not be as many women seeking abortions if the men who impregnated them were truly held responsible for their action. You can try making abortions illegal or we can make the parent legally responsible for the child. Run DNA tests, for heavens sake. The parent might not be in the system now but the DNA database is ever expanding.
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Hats off to the Sackler family for ruining all of these families.
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@Richard yes because the sacklers personally held a gun to each one of these people's heads and forced them to remove the coating of and then crush and sniff an 80mg oxycontin. Get real. At a certain point, EVERYONE makes their OWN choices in life.
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I read many of the comments regarding the immigrant can pickers with many saying they should leave NYC. I pray for these kids to get out of Southern Ohio.
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The real heroes are these relatives that take over the parenting of their drug offsprings or siblings kids. These children will also need abundant counseling to process the damaging PTSD episodes they endured whilst dwelling with the drug addicts. Packing on the pounds is a way of avoiding, not healing. However, god bless these fostering parents.
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This is really the worst side aspect of the opiate crisis - the collateral damage against innocent family members.
I've had addicts do construction work for me in NH and they are hard workers. I would advocate special programs to hire them, with non liability for injury clauses etc., for employers(to save them money), because of the drug addiction. Then a percent of of their income (10% or 20%) go into a direct pay fund to go to these parents and grandparents who have unexpectedly acquired new children. I've heard of grandparents on social security who have been thrown into this situation, and it is heart breaking. The addicts hopefully will feel some good will in helping out a terrible situation - they created.
I would point out that about tens years ago or so, conservative talk show superstar Rush Limbaugh was caught using massive amounts of percocets he acquired from a worker at his home, for a long period of time. This was when he rose to be one of the highest paid entertainers in America - he seemed to be able to work just fine - some would say TOO good.
More recently, Trump's ex physician was known for handing out pain killers on air force one.
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Lost childhoods, of Hannah and those like her, are the collateral damage of the opioid epidemic -- at least, one incarnation of its ruinous aftermath.
What a heart-rending story, and what a reminder in this "season of plenty".
I'm going to hug my mom today.
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Hats off to the generous and able family members sweeping in to support these children. There is no greater gift and no more deserving recipients.
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@AnnaB Yes true and many are grandparents on a limited income and they need $$$ help. We need to recognize this and arrange to help them raise these kids.
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@Richard Head Agree. Terrific use of funds as it is a financial struggle. And we pay foster parents so . . .
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I'm so glad these children have a good safe loving home.
But relatives are not necessarily equipped to take care of children. Kinship is not enough: they have to have stable emotional lives and lots of energy. I've known of kinship placements that have turned out very badly.
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Heart warming that some children of addicted parents have found refuge by having other family members step in to fill the void. BUT, these kids are a small minority of those impacted by the current drug epidemic. I would add that these lucky children often depend on government assistance for maintenance in their newly constituted homes.
The Trump budget calls for massive 10 year cuts in Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. Also $4.5 billion is to be cut from the food stamp program. Now newly proposed regulations are designed to make it more difficult to obtain and keep federal disability benefits. This is on the back of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
Our country cannot rely too much on those families that are able to step in to help these unfortunate children. They are few and these rescue families also need support.
There is a sadistic theme the "survival of the fittest" Republican approach to our countries safety net. I live in a deep Red State. It has been devastated by rampant drug addictions that have left many children and their families in crisis. Yet my state will undoubtedly vote overwhelmingly for this heartless Republican agenda.
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@Big Mike
Exactly. A vote for Trump is a vote to throw one's own family and community under the bus, no matter how many conservative judges they get in the bargain. This message needs to be made painfully clear the counties where the opioid problem, and coincidentally Trump support, is highest.
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@Big Mike , I am sorry your other neighbors do not see clearly how they shoot themselves in the foot by how they vote or fail to vote. It is true, you can't fix stupid. Us middle class coastal 'elites' are paying more fed taxes since the 2017 law. Too bad for your neighbors that they doesn't want more of our liberal money.
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Politicians in Washington, Columbus, and Scioto County need to continue to pursue lawsuits against "Big Pharma" for creating this crisis. And yes, I understand the argument that drug addicts will find drugs regardless of where they are, but "Big Pharma" escalated the speed and frequency of these addictions and family tragedies. Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell, Mrs. Pelosi, if you're reading, please take this battle on...there should be no question this is something really worth fighting against together.
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These adoptive parents are the true heros of the opiod epidemic. They are helping to break the cycle of dysfunction and addiction...they are making a difference in the way few government programs can. I can't imagine how much strength, patience and faith it must take, and I applaud the Times for highlighting what they're doing. Parents ilke Hannah's and Jocelyln's deserve no less than the Presidential Medal of Freedom for what they're doing.
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@Leigh Hancock I think it's both/and. I agree that the adoptive and foster parents are truly heroes, but we need government programs to ensure children are removed from dangerous situations and placed in safe environments. If not government, who would have the authority to infringe on parental rights who don't have the insight to know they are putting their children in harms way. These heroic foster/adoptive parents often receive financial subsidy from the government to help pay for the expenses associated with child rearing. How else could they afford to do this? Furthermore, treatment works and many families can be reunited once parents get the help they need, but treatment costs money, often times paid for my Medicaid, a government benefit to people who qualify financially.
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Every time I read something about addiction, I am reminded of two studies. The first of course being that famous one where when presented with two water bottles (one with drugs) solitary rats would drug themselves to death.
The other, far less well know being the one where rats were given basically a park, one where they could roam and play with other rats, where they essentially ignored the drug laced water in favor of plain water and enjoying themselves.
The sad lesson being, that so many people are in situations where the only thing good in their lives is drugs. Admittedly, addictive personalities are just that, but there are certainly healthier things to be addicted to than drugs, such as books, sports, gardening, even internet gaming.
Perhaps if everyday was not such a joyless slog for those in straightened circumstances they could channel their addiction to something not so destructive to them and their families. Better a dad focused on restoring a classic Buick than one locking you out of the house to snort blow.
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/substance-use-disorder/what-does-rat-park-teach-us-about-addiction
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