Drug Addicted Mothers

Drug Addicted Mothers

More than 1 million children are exposed to drugs or alcohol during pregnancy according to The National Institute on Drug Abuse. Each year about 221,000 of the women who become pregnant consume illegal drugs and most of these children are born addicted to the drugs themselves. These mothers cannot give their children the proper care. Many drug-dependent parents abuse their children both mentally and physically. There is action that needs to be taken to prevent this on many different levels.

The microsystem would be made up of family members or anyone that is around the mother and child on a day-to-day basis. Any family members that are financially, physically, and mentally stable should intervene and do what they can to make sure that the baby is taken away from the mother and is never exposed to these drugs again. Family members could either adopt the baby themselves or help to find a reputable family that was looking to adopt a baby. If the mother is willing to quit the drugs and become sober the family could take care of the baby until the mother was able to give the baby the correct care. The best treatment for the mother is medical intervention.

The exosystem would be members of the community, family friends, and the legal system who are on the outside looking in. Members of the community and family friends could encourage the mother to become sober and help in any way possible if that is what she decided to do. If the mother decides not to keep the child, community members could help find the best possible home for the baby. The best thing that the community could do is take a stand against drugs in their community. The legal system also makes up a large part of the exosystem. I think that laws should be made for situations such as this that say that the mother can either give her baby up or that she must go to rehab and the decision between rehab and giving the baby up for adoption can be made based on each situation.

Our cultural values, cultural attitudes, and mass media make up the macrosystem. There is a lot that we can do as a society to intervene and change the way that things are right now. This could change the outlook on the lives of many children. I believe that this wouldn't be such a widespread problem if society looked down on people who did drugs. A lot of the people in the media that we look to as glamorous and flawless have