"Last year, we had two long-term placements due to alcohol and meth problems, but this year we're seeing more children and they're younger," said Wilkin County Family Services Social Service Supervisor Becky Tripp. If parents are arrested for drug-related offenses, someone has to take care of the children. Family services always looks to family members first, and even offers support and training to them. But if no one is qualified or willing, the kids head into the foster care program.
And what’s more, the children are younger and younger. It used to be that generally the kids that ended up in foster care because of their parents’ addictions were around 8 years old. But this year three young sibling groups ages infant-to-preschool age have been taken into protective custody. Sad.
"The younger children do well in foster families, are even happier, because they're not in that chaotic environment," Tripp said. That’s a small relief, if any. The truth is, with a parent who is on drugs, off drugs, and fighting to get her kids back, they may end up like a yo-yo going between their “real” mom and a foster family that is getting quite attached to them. Just what a young child needs: total confusion.
Another fact is that foster families will only take younger children who don’t have chemical-dependence or mental illnesses. Older children may end up in therapeutic homes or treatment programs. And, as good as some of these might be, it’s not going to be like living in a home.
It’s such a difficult situation. Perhaps when a teen was first enticed into trying drugs and quickly addicted to them, she didn’t ever think about the fact that someday she was going to bring children into the world that would be affected so much by her behavior. There’s a song by Sara Groves called “Generations” that says, “Remind me of this with every decision generations will reap what I sow. I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know…..to my great-great-great-granddaughter, live in peace. To my great-great-great-grandson, live in peace.” No wonder the anti-drug slogan has long been, “Just say no.”
She didn’t think about the fact that she might create children with drug problems already. And if they miraculously escape having their brains affected by drugs, she probably didn’t realize that being on drugs was going to severely limit how good of a mother she would become.
