Issues in Northern Kentucky Early Childhood Education: Children of the Heroine Epidemic

     As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the heroine epidemic is a major issue in the Northern Kentucky area. Children are being sent into foster care or kinship care at alarming rates. In the first 15 years of my teaching career, I encountered one child being raised by a single dad due to mom's drug abuse. The previous seen years of my career have seen an exponential increase in parental drug abuse by one or both parents. Children are being raised by relative and non relative care by foster parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, great grandparents, and even older siblings.  

  
   These changes in family structure, frequent moves, and guardian changes cause a significant amount of stress and instability in children's lives.  Even before the stressful event involved with change occur these children are often subjected to neglect and/or abuse by drug addicted parents.  They arrive at our preschools, Head Start, and childcare centers with anxiety, fear, unhealthy attachments, and distrust of adults. They often display very disruptive behaviors in the classroom and at home. They flip tables, throw chairs and toys, bite, and scream.  They are also known to have serious control issues. Frequently, they try to control their peers, the classroom, and play scenarios as they were often placed in the position of being the "adult" in their biological home.                                 

     These children are not only born into an environment of drug abuse but they are also born addicted themselves. Heroine users do not stop using during pregnancy; they simply can not pull themselves away from the drug.  Furthermore, they are more likely to get pregnant while using as they often forget to use contraceptives when they are high. Their children are born with tremors, diarrhea, sleeplessness, and difficulty eating (Bernstein, 2015) This is known as neonatal abstinence syndrome. Bernstein(2015) reports that this syndrome has "quadrupled over nine years, to 2.7% of all neonatal intensive care unit admissions (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-life-begins-in-rehab-a-maryland-baby-inherits-her-mothers-addiction).                                    


     By the time these children reach preschool, they show signs of nervousness and fear of loud noises. However, it is impossible to tease out the heroine related issues from the trauma and abuse related issues. Some have difficulty socializing and making friends due to unhealthy attachments habits sustained from disconnected home situations. They either trust no one and will not form a friendship, or they latch on to a friend and cling too tightly. Their depth of delays and issues directly correlates to the time and amount of in utero exposure to the drug much like a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Teachers are working diligently in this area to create plans for these children, assist with socialization, and teach guardians to work with the children. 

     Just today, within the span of twenty minutes, I had three phone calls from grandparents that had just recently received custody of multiple grandchildren each. Four different single dads with full custody have enrolled children in our center this week.  All of these situations are directly related to this epidemic. 

References
Bernstein, L. (2015). When life begins in rehab: a baby heals after a mother's addiction. 
     Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-life-               begins-in-rehab-a-maryland-baby-inherits-her-mothers-addiction/2015/08/12/182c8f50-         37a4-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.html?utm_term=.1727d55d448b