There is no across the board answer to this question. If a child is born addicted to drugs, it should be removed from the mother immediately. In order for the child to be returned, the mother should go through a court ordered drug treatment and parenting program. If the Mother cooperates and shows that she will work to stay off drugs and be a good parent, she should then be able to have supervised visits with the child and gradually have the child returned to her. If she shows that she is not cooperative and will only be a detriment to the well being of the child, custody should be revoked, and she should be given the choice of jail time vs sterilization. Hopefully, she will choose sterilization.
During the period when treatment is given, she should be subject to random drug testing, and given some type of community service type job to pay for her treatment. I’m sick and tired of seeing my tax dollars being thrown to the crack whores who have multiple children, all victims of her indiscretions. I can understand skfinkel’s comment about them going underground, but isn’t that what is already happening?
I’m all for giving a hand up to those who really want it. But for those who show that they will continue to use drugs, and possibly give birth and a life time of misery to yet another child, I have no pity.
I watched a baby boy get taken away from a crack whore, and he is being raised by some much more decent people in his family. He will have a good life. But after voluntarily giving up her rights because the random drug testing was too inconvienient for her. A couple of years later, same crack whore had another child in another state, thinking she was out of the jurisdiction of the state that took the first child. The second child is now around 8 years old, and has been badly neglected. A very sad story indeed, and one I wish I knew nothing about.