CRISIS: National Surge In Foster Children Amid Opioid Crisis & Slashed Human Services Budgets

 

By Jane Clayson
On Point /WBUR (7/2/18)

We have heard story after story the last few years about the lives ruined or lost because of the opioid epidemic.  But here’s another real-world impact you might not have noticed:  More addicted adults means more kids entering the foster care system.  Child care agencies and foster families have always had their hands full.  Throw in painkillers, heroin, fentanyl, and they are now swamped.  This hour, On Point: opioid epidemic and the crisis in foster care.

What happens when opioids ravage the lives of mothers and fathers? More foster children who need homes and families. Opioids and the crisis in foster care.

Guests:

  • Sherry Lachman, founder and executive director of Foster America.
  • Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services for Montgomery County, Ohio.
  • Brittney Barros, a young leader from FosterClub, the national network for young people in foster care.
  • Glenn Koster, a 62-year old retired IT worker who was adopted and fostered as a child. He’ll walk across the country starting Feb. 1 to raise awareness for foster care need.

From The Reading List:

NBC News:Opioid Crisis Straining Foster System As Kids Pried From Homes — “The case arrives with all the routine of a traffic citation: A baby boy, just 4 days old and exposed to heroin in his mother’s womb, is shuddering through withdrawal in intensive care, his fate now being determined here in a shabby courthouse that hosts a parade of human misery.”

Link to Story and 49-Minute Audio