Parenting Capacity and Substance Misuse - Essay Example

Because these effects within the children have a strong potential to be carried into the next generation as well as to impact the public health, it is necessary for the social worker to learn how to recognize these signs and develop means of providing the children with the needed elements they are missing within the home. While this seems a nearly impossible task without the investment of vast resources and time into each family unit, there are some tools and practices that may help. It is the purpose of this study to examine the prevalence of these issues within society and to illustrate the importance of understanding on the part of the social worker in bringing about positive effective change within the home.

It seems to be almost common knowledge that substance abuse/misuse can have serious detrimental effects on the care and raising of children within the home where one or both parents are involved in substance abuse activity. The tendency of this thinking holds that all children living within homes in which substances are used or abused are the victims of domestic violence. However, children living in these types of situations may not have any experience at all with the concept of violence within the home, yet may have numerous other issues to deal with as a result of neglect or other forms of abuse.

Parents engaging in substance abuse may not have enough time or attention to provide their children with the necessary skills and attention they require to thrive while the parents may also be spending much-needed time and money away from the home as a means of supporting their habit. Children living in this sort of environment may find themselves needing to survive without adequate clothing, food or housing while also being required to essentially raise themselves without the benefit of parental guidance or support.

This situation can have serious public implications as teenagers, having grown up in this sort of environment, tend to have