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In 2017, 1.4 million children were living with a parent that was affected by opioid addiction. Oftentimes we think of the effects of addiction as unilateral, and one sided. Many can acknowledge that addiction heavily damages the addict. What most people aren’t able to realize is that it can also be detrimental to loved ones.
One often overlooked group is children. Children are heavily impacted by parental opioid usage in two main ways: The parent-child relationship and child behaviors.
Parents struggling with opioid usage disorder (OUD) frequently release their hardships on their children, whether unintentionally or deliberately.
A study published in “Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health” found that mothers affected by OUD were often more threatening and critical. Another study by Suchman and Luther revealed that parents with opioid addictions were less involved in their children’s life. They showed a lack of care for their children, and even had a harder time understanding cues from them. Parents were also found to frequently hand out their kids to be taken care of by family and relatives.
Along with having a strained relationship with their parents, children have also been seen to act differently and to experience a harsher reality due to a parent’s OUD.
Researchers from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health evaluated children during their parents’ methadone maintenance treatment meetings (appointments where people struggling with OUD take doses of methadone to become less dependent on opioids), and checked in on them over a decade later. They found out that 70% of the children had 2 or more adverse childhood experiences (critical traumatic childhood events) and 20% had 4 or more. Also reported was that 76% of the people interviewed did not meet the conditions for “functional resilience”, or the ability to handle stress, go to work or school, not use substances, and not have a legal history for five years prior.
In the Bay Area, while there aren’t many organizations that specialize in specifically repairing parent-child bonds due to opioid usage, there are a few, such as Ujima Family Recovery Services, which offers group and solo counseling sessions that focus on the kids.
Additionally, there are programs that offer support to children with general family stress and trauma, for example, Family Paths and Mental Health Association of Alameda County (MHAAC).
Opioid usage greatly affects its user, but also children of the user. Understanding the damaging ripple effect of drug use on family and children is key to weakening the grip of opioids on our society.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
