County OKs Reforms on Children of Addicted Parents

The Board of Supervisors approved a series of reforms Tuesday aimed at helping government better identify and help children being raised by parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

But while the board approved several measures that would help county agencies ferret out substance-abusing parents and their children, it never raised the issue of how it will finance handling the likely results: more adults needing drug treatment and children needing foster homes.

Drug treatment programs in Los Angeles County are oversubscribed, with 1,000 people on waiting lists. Although state and federal funding for drug treatment has risen slightly in the last few years, county funds for these programs have been deeply cut.

A dearth of foster homes has resulted in many children being placed in institutional group homes. County social workers must oversee many more youngsters than is recommended, sometimes resulting in superficial monitoring that places children in danger.

Nonetheless, the board unanimously approved all of the recommendations put forth by the Task Force on Alcohol and Other Drug-Affected Parents, which was appointed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich six months ago, after The Times series “Orphans of Addiction” chronicled the plight of children raised by substance-abusing parents.

The task force report did not attempt to calculate the costs of their recommendations, most notably the proposal to provide treatment on demand to addicted women with children. The board did not raise the issue of funding during Tuesday’s discussion.

Among the reforms approved were a measure to establish a common set of questions to be asked by each county agency coming in contact with parents or children to try to determine if a parent is an addict, a wide-ranging public education campaign geared to telling people how to recognize suspected child abuse and neglect and how to report it, and expansion of a home nurse visitation program by the health department meant to help new mothers develop healthy lives for themselves and their children.

The task force, consisting of representatives from 25 county departments and other groups, estimated that at any one time, about 15% of all Los Angeles County families with children have a parent afflicted by drug or alcohol addiction.

“These children need help. We are their lifeline,” Antonovich said. “We must assure they are in a safe environment.”

Although the task force recommendations ask the board to take a rehabilitative, not punitive, approach to substance-abusing parents, Antonovich raised a seemingly contradictory motion, which was unanimously approved. It stated that the county should come down hard on parents who abuse substances by taking away their children. The motion asked the task force “to develop recommendations that place child safety paramount above all other issues relating to addicted families.”

The motion stated, in part: “If [parents] choose drugs, they will lose their child. Drug-addicted parents waive their right to keep their children.” It also asked the task force to spell out ways in which the county can better recruit foster and adoptive parents for these children, and to report back in 60 days.

Asked to elaborate, Antonovich said he believes substance-abusing parents should be given one chance to get sober, and if they fail, they should have their children permanently removed.

Antonovich pushed Department of Children and Family Services Director Peter Digre about how aggressive his department is in removing children from parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol and placing them in foster care.

Many drug experts have called drug and alcohol addiction a relapsing disease in which the brain is effectively rewired to crave the substances. As a result, addicts often must go through treatment more than once before they are able to stay sober.

Task Force member and Rio Hondo Municipal Judge Rudolph Diaz called Antonovich’s emphasis on punishment over rehabilitation “unfortunate.”

“People do want to be responsible parents. We are all better off if we can keep kids and parents together,” Diaz said.