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Another major issue with drug abuse and other addictions being such a huge part of foster care is the time factor. Beating a drug addiction is not as easy or something that happens overnight. To overcome an addiction takes a huge commitment, hard work, and possibly a large amount of time for the biological parents.
Below is a quote from an article here:
Doctors used to say withdrawal took 12 to 18 months, but now, note that withdrawal might take 10 years or longer for someone being treated for bi-polar disorder.
Biological parents should be given a reasonable amount of time to seek treatment of their addictions but the problem lies with what is viewed as “reasonable”. Take into account the time period that the above article refers to makes the picture seem quite bleak.
One thing that has to be taken into account is the children that are living in limbo (so to speak) waiting to see if the biological parents are going to do what it takes to get them back. A childhood is not a long period of time to begin with and then you add the years that the foster child has already lost because of lack of parenting due to abuse or neglect. Then on top of that you add their time in foster care waiting to see if their biological parents will work to get them back or waiting to end up staying in foster care until or if an adoptive placement can be found. This leads to the next question of when has a children given up too much of their childhood up to biological parents that are unable to commit to becoming the parents that they need them to be.
Should biological parents have to show a commitment and a true desire to beat their addiction to allow them the extensions to get their children back? That does not mean passing 2 out of 5 drug test, or doing a few hours or classes, etc. and doing the bear minimum just to keep the door open forcing their children additional time living in limbo.
Most foster parents would be happy to see a biological parent busting the butts trying to get their children back. More often we see biological parents playing games, working the system with no real intention to work at getting their children back. All of that causing the foster children that we are caring for and loving to pay the price for their biological parents time and time again.
More reading:
Drugs Impacting the Foster Care System
I was told I was a bad foster parent because for one reason I was very open even with 4 year olds with the reason they were in foster care. Mommy and Daddy are sick, they drink or use drugs (if that was the case, it was not always) and no it was not okay for someone with a drinking problem to ever drink…
another reason I was often very sad when I knew kids were returning to situtations just as bad or worse then they came from… I would often if the kids was at an age at all to do so educate the kids that help was just a phone call to the police away.. (DSS rarely does anything)
I was happy to see the 2 sets of sib return to their mothers… both women had worked hard, showed up to each visit, court hearing, sober, etc..
but the ones sent to crack mom who never passed a drug screen, I was the bad one to educate them they could call the police the next time they saw her using or high…