Stories of Loss: Separation of Children and Mothers Who Use Opioids

• In Event: 2450 - Social In-Justice: Controlling Pregnant Women and Mothers who Use Drugs

Abstract

Background: Mothers and pregnant women have been diagnosed with opioid use disorder at alarming rates. This paper explores the lived experiences of opioid using women who have lost children to governing agencies or family members set in the context of their access to positive or negative social capital.
Study Design: A grounded theory method that combined ethnographic and qualitative data was used in this study. For this paper, 15 interviews were analyzed with mothers who are currently using opioids and who experienced the removal of their children by child protective services. Trained researchers and their assistants conducted the interviews which lasted between one and two hours. Data analysis was guided by grounded theory methods which provide a flexible process that responds to emergent finding.
Results: The women who were interviewed for this study fall into two categories organized by their access to positive or negative social capital. Two themes emerged from the findings and are discussed in the paper: (1) impact of forced child removal on drug use; and (2) impact of forced child removal on mother role perception.
Conclusions: Mothers who use opioids are greatly impacted by the forced removal of their children and drug use can increase when negative outweighs positive social capital. Taking a child from its mother’s care also affects the mother role perception. Our research suggests that increasing positive social capital could produce positive effects on mothers’ opioid use and mother role perception.

Author

• Aukje Lamonica, Southern Connecticut State University