Addiction affects a wide variety of different aspects of an individual’s life, including careers, relationships, education, and family. In fact, family tends to be one of the areas that is heavily affected by addiction, as they are the people that are most intimately connected to the struggling individual. And when it comes to family, children tend to receive a large brunt of drug and alcohol addiction.
How Children Are Affected by Drug and Alcohol Addiction
This concatenation of events can often lead to a very unfortunate circumstance, which is the children being removed from the home of the parents. An environment like this can be extremely detrimental to a child when it continues for even a short time. When parents continue to use and abuse substances, a child may not receive their basic needs, such being fed. This then results in reports being filed by individuals or school staff seeing the effects of the situation, and child protective services (CPS), authorities, and other agencies will begin to investigate. Upon discovering a child in circumstances like these, they will often remove the child from the home into temporary care. The removal of children from their homes as a result of drug and alcohol addiction has unfortunately become much more prominent. In fact, it has now become the number one reason that children are removed from their homes.
What Can Happen Once a Child is Removed from Their Home?
Once a child is removed from a home like this, there is typically two situations that can occur. The parent could attend treatment and get their act together, complete the necessary steps for the court, and at some point be able to have their child returned to the home. The other situation that could occur is that the parent continues to struggle, does not receive treatment for their addiction or complete these steps, and the child could then be adopted by someone else, taken by a relative, or be placed in the foster system.
In these situations, it is, of course, most ideal that the parent attends treatment to overcome their addiction and get their child back. Family members should help to encourage this, as the parent may be very discouraged, but supporting them can often help to get them to take the necessary steps. There is also drug abuse support for families that can help to foster this as well.
When Seeking Help for a Drug or Alcohol Addiction
Being that addiction can destroy so many parts of an individual’s life, it is critical that they receive treatment as soon as possible. There are many different treatment centers across the country that can help them to overcome their addiction, but the large amount can make it tough to know which one to choose. New Beginnings is here to help, as we can explain the various options available, and find a facility that best fits the needs and wants of you or your loved one. Take the first steps to overcoming drug and alcohol addiction, and give us a call today.