“It's hard to explain that kind of love because if you really, really loved your children you would do everything in your power to get off the drugs,” says Suzanne. This foster mom is trying to make sense of something that's unthinkable for most.
Addicts, who have children, picking drugs over their kids. The opioid epidemic is increasing the numbers of children in foster care. According to WebMD, the number of kids placed in foster care in the United States due to parental drug use has more than doubled over the past two decades:
39,100 children in 2000
96,700 children in 2017
“I do feel terrible for the people that are drug addicted. It just breaks my heart. I just wish they would stop. But what breaks my heart more is seeing all the kids without their parents and all that baggage that's going to hurt them as they get older and what are they going to be when they're adults?”
Jack began living at a children's home 2 years ago at 14 years old.
“My life wouldn't be the same if i didn't live here. I'd probably end up just like my parents.” His mother and father, both addicts, have had their parental rights terminated.
“I'm doing a lot better than I would have ever been doing if i was still with my parents. That's how I look at it.”
Look at the impact opioids have on foster children in our area
Included below is an interactive map that shows the percentage of parents who say opioids are the reason they are having to give up their children.