The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
QUESTION: Should parents who repeatedly get arrested for drug use lose custody of their kids permanently?
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This is a really tough one. I have mixed emotions even before I had kids/grandkids. Part of me says yes because kids deserve better. You have to be a responsible parent. And part of me says kids need their parents, especially their mom. No kid wants to be taken away, and either way the kid is destroyed.
I’m reminded of living in San Diego and going to the gym one evening. I was signing in and he asked me how I was doing. He went on to say he was going through a divorce and they took him away from his mom when he was eight. He overdosed in the third grade, and bikers used to toss him around. He went on to ask me why they took him away. Why couldn’t they give her another chance. He missed his mom. I just listened, but I remember this conversation like it was yesterday. It was heartbreaking.
sad but on point.
YES!!
Yes
Yes! There are plenty pro-birth Christians ready to protect kids! We can place them in their care!
Yes – but maybe metered …after 3x kids go to protective custody for say 90 days …. if it happens a 4th – till they’re 18 yrs old. imho
I mean permanently is kind of final, if they rehabilitate themselves and have people that can vouch for their being clean and submit to weekly drug tests, they could earn their kids back. But with fentanyl is everything now, as soon as drugs are in the home the kids lives are in peril
This should not even be a question. I would take it further and say those repeatedly doing drugs need to be sterilized.
And then where should these children go? I wonder how many homeless people were kids from the foster care system…hmm
What will happen to the children? There’s no guarantee the court will find a willing family member to care for them. If the parents lose custody, the children may become a ward of the state where the government will have custody and place them up for adoption or into foster care. Children do not want to be seperated from their parents, they may feel abandoned and unloved and run away. They will run the risk of falling into the hands of a pimp and prostitution. They may also turn to drugs, grow up as drug users, have children of their own, and the cycle of parents permanently losing custody starts all over again. A better solution is to provide help for the parents and place them into a reliable rehab home where they can not only learn to live drug free, but they can learn parenting skills as well. If they cannot afford it, the state should pick up the tab, it will be tax dollars well spent, and will undoubtly save money in the long run. It sure beats wasting money on the train to nowhere.
Sure. And then what?
State going to raise the kids?
Has that worked ever? 🧐