Drug Abuse During Pregnancy Term paper
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Child maltreatment is defined as intentional harm to or avoidable endangerment of, anyone less than 18 years of age. Thus, child maltreatment includes both abuse-deliberate action that is harmful to a child s well being-and neglect-failure to appropriately meet a child s basic needs. An 18-year-old mother that is using drugs during pregnancy is guilty of child abuse and neglect. A baby does not have the option of saying Mommy I don t feel like getting high today. It is a mother s responsibility to love and nurture a child while it is in her womb.
A mother that endangers the well-being and life of her child as well as themselves should not be allowed to parent that child after it is born. On the other side of the coin, how can a mother that has used abused drugs throughout her pregnancy take care of a baby if she is going to be high all the time? She will not all of a sudden get a conscience after the child is born and decide to become a good, loving, nurturing parent. It did not happen during the nine months of pregnancy, it wouldn t happen after the child is born. Also, with the child being born deformed and mentally handicapped, there is way this mother is capable of providing adequate care. The mother will more than likely suffer a lot of guilt at seeing what she has done to her baby. A special needs baby will need a lot of care which will also put a lot of emotional strain on the mother, which will lead to increased drug use. I think the right thing to do would be to have responsible relatives look after the baby until the mother can enter some type of substance abuse treatment which can often take years. Some expert s feel that drug treatments will succeed is tremendously increased if mothers are allowed to keep their children. Society and the experts are divided on this controversial issue.
Does society have any say on the conduct of a mother s private life with her child? I say yes. It is no longer a private issue, when an innocent baby is harmed, in utero, from maternal drug use. As I stated before a baby does not have the option of telling his mother he does not want to get high anymore. When that baby is born addicted to drugs, he is in for a long hospital stay. Newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) show increased sensitivity to noise, irritability, poor coordination, excessive sneezing and yawning, and uncoordinated sucking and swallowing reflexes. If these symptoms persist, the infants require medication. Researchers are testing carefully controlled doses of Phenobarbital, tincture of opium, and other substances to help infants withdraw from narcotics. It is the lesser of the evils-substituting one drug for another. Is this any way to start out life?
Another concern is, after the child is born with numerous physical and emotional problems, it will become a social welfare issue; the mother is going to require assistance from some family service agency to provide assistance for herself and her child. If the mother is provided with cash assistance...
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