Family Stigmatization due to Substance Abuse

Social Workers’ Agency

Part 1

1. Is it possible for a parent to use/abuse alcohol and/or other drugs and meet their child’s needs? Why or why not?

When a parent begins abusing alcohol or other drugs, they will spend most of their money buying alcohol or drugs, and they will not manage to provide for their child’s need. Alcohol and drugs affect their thinking, making it hard to recognize and meet their child’s needs. The parent will have a chaotic and unpredictable lifestyle where they are sober and aware of what they need to do for their child, and the next minute after taking alcohol or drugs, they lose focus and awareness. While the parent might be willing to provide, their priority changes, and they prefer to meet their alcohol or drug need first. The result is the child is neglected and cannot receive their needs from the parent. Alcohol and drugs affect a person’s mind, making it hard to coordinate and focus or recall certain things. Therefore, the parent will assume they provided for their child when recovering from their alcohol-induced state. Assuming they did what was needed, they can continue drinking or taking drugs, feeling they have met all their requirements.

The parent’s money is spent mainly on alcohol or drugs since they cannot function without them. The parent is left without money to provide for the child and family. The impairment of cognitive function by alcohol or drugs makes the parent neglect their responsibilities because they cannot think or recall what they need to do. The result is that the parent might lose their job for failure to attend work, meaning there are even fewer funds available to meet the child’s needs. Nursing hangovers after a drinking spree leads to considerable downtime where the parent cannot function properly and leads to unhealthy habits like oversleeping. To recover from the hangover, most people prefer to consume their drug of choice, making them high again. Therefore, the parent will forever be high, and they cannot function when in this state.

2. How do you know when alcohol or other drug use interferes with a parent’s ability to meet his/her child’s safety and well-being needs? What should happen in these cases?

When one notices the parent looks drunk or unaware of their surroundings, they abuse either alcohol or drugs. However, this does not mean they are not meeting their parental duties to provide for their child. The best way to determine if a parent provides and meets their child’s needs is by asking the child or noticing the child looks hungry, malnourished, or sick. If the child is old enough to talk, one can ask them when they last had a meal and who offered them the meal to determine if there is any food in the house. A neglected child will look dirty and unkept, making it obvious there is something wrong at home. If it is well known the parent abuses alcohol or drugs, then one can know for sure the parent is not meeting the child’s needs. A neglected child might also have bruises from beatings at home. Due to the cognitive impairment caused by alcohol, a parent can physically abuse their child when they cry or ask for something. Physical abuse is the first indicator that a child’s needs are not being met at home.

If it is established the parent cannot meet the child’s need due to alcohol or drug abuse, counseling can be offered to the parent to see if there will be changes in their behavior. If the parent does not want reform, the child should be removed from the home and placed in foster care. Placing the child in foster care might not be the best alternative. However, there is no alternative in a case where the parent has become an addict and neglects the child. The parent is then encouraged to undergo rehabilitation before being reunited with their child. Before the child is given back to the parent, an assessment will determine their ability to provide and care for their child.

Part 2

Create an Outline for your presentation and include Two discussion questions that you will pose to the attendees of the training for engaged discussion.

· Definition of stigma: Stigma refers to the discrimination against a person, group, place, or nation.

For people with addiction, the stigma will involve unfounded thoughts like the person is at fault for their condition, dangerous, or incapable of managing treatment.

For the addict’s family, stigma revolves around assuming they will follow the same path or cannot control themselves.

· Low self-esteem: The children will have low self-esteem since others in the community talk about them in hushed tones since they have an addict in their family.

Children will lose confidence in themselves since they feel not valued.

· Feelings of embarrassment and shame: Handling an addict means the family members are called to pick their addicted family member from precarious locations leading to embarrassment or shame.

The addict could also be involved in criminal activities to sustain their addiction.

Children will feel the addict is undermining the image they try to project to society.

Shame arises from measuring actions against moral standards. Family members will determine moral standards as not having an addict and feel ashamed for having one in their family.

· Social exclusion: Family members cannot participate in every day relationships and activities since they care for the addict.

Children have to miss out on social activities like hanging out with friends or attending a sleepover because they are rarely or never invited.

· Avoiding stigmatizing behavior: Professionals should ensure they use appropriate words and language to avoid stigmatizing the family when interacting with them.

Avoid the potential of negative bias and stigma.

Use person-first language.

Discussion Questions

1. Does the stigma associated with substance use disorders prevent addicts from seeking treatment?

2. Should a person with a substance abuse disorder be held accountable for their negative behavior?

Overview about substance abuse and the social consequences that comes with substance abuse and the consequences that are extended to their family through stigmatization.

Initially, substance abuse will not impact the relationships of the addicts since the addict’s friends will be tolerating them. However, as time passes, the friends will keep away because they want to do something else. Also, they might begin to resent the addict’s behavior when they are high. The addict will want to spend most of their time using the substances while the friends want to socialize, meaning there is a difference in preferences. Substance use leads to the loss of friends because they will begin avoiding you due to your behaviors and misuse of drugs. With time the addict finds themselves without friends, and the only people associating with them are fellow addicts (O’Shay-Wallace, 2019). Substance use will lead to depletion of funds, and one might become homeless since they cannot afford to pay rent. Without money, the substance user will result in criminal behavior like stealing or snatching things from others. Criminal behavior leads to further deterioration of social circles because no one wants to be around thieves or call them friends (O’Shay-Wallace, 2019).