Drug addiction and pregnancy

A New Jersey court determined that a mother had not abused her child when she sought help for her painkiller addiction. She was placed on methadone. Her baby showed signs of withdrawal after birth causing child protection to intervene.  The fact that she sought treatment was seen favourably. Thus she was determined to have not been grossly negligent.

The case is worrying.  By implication had she not sought treatment then she would be negilgent placing her in the position of abusing her baby. This not only shames mothers with addiction but drives them away from help for fear of the implications.

Many women who are addicts do not get pregnant by choice. They are not seeking pregnancy. Most addicted women are victims of abuse. Many pregnancies occur within patterns of inter personal violence. I wonder what happens when we see the mother and the baby as victims together both in need of support. This case did not seem to seek to criminalize the mother as cases elsewhere have done. This is good  

Now we need to bring a harm reduction and support lens to these cases

Assessing parent in drug manufacturing cases

Two colleagues and I have just published an article on assessing parents for child welfare in drug manufacturing cases.

Abstract

Child protection services frequently become involved with families engaging in substance abuse, and addiction, with a growing presence of drug manufacturing as an important component of the case. Assessors are called upon to consider how this impacts parenting capacity. However, while there are many protocols for assessing substance abuse and dependency, little attention has been paid to how to consider drug manufacturing and parenting capacity. The authors suggest a protocol that will guide assessors on determining the level of risk for children and the impact drug manufacturing may be having on parenting.

The article is published in the Michigan Child Welfare Law Journal in the Spring 2012 issue. It can be found at this link

Reference:

Choate, P., Harland, D. & McKenzie, A. (2012). Assessing parents for child protection in drug manufacturing cases. Michigan Child Welfare Law Journal, 14 (3), 10-19.