COUNTY OK'S REFORMS ON CHILDREN OF ADDICTED PARENTS

Health: Supervisors approve measures to aid youngsters, and vote to place
them in foster homes if parents don't remain sober. But costs are not
addressed.

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

Copyright Los Angeles Times