“The surge in opioid abuse across the U.S. has claimed many victims, often young adults in the prime of life. But there are other victims as well, typically hidden from view: the children of addicts who are either orphaned or taken from parents who are unable to care for them. After declining for years during and after the Great Recession, when states cut their social service budgets, the number of children in the foster care system, more than half a million, has been creeping back up again — with potentially serious long-term consequences for the children and the rest of society.
A report out of North Carolina recently demonstrates the effects of the addiction crisis. NC Child, a nonprofit children’s advocacy group, found that in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, 39 percent of children — up from 26 percent just 10 years prior — entered the state’s foster care system because of parents’ problems with substance abuse.”
Read more at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hidden-victims-opioid-addiction-children-foster-care-090003617.html
Source: Finance.Yahoo.com – July 20, 2018
