“My Kids Come First”: Perspectives on Parenting While Using Illicit Drugs in Appalachia

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 20: Youth, Family, and Social Reproduction

Abstract

Opioid and methamphetamine use have been on the rise in the United States over the past two decades. Because of this, more children are entering the foster care system due to parental substance use. Yet little is known about how parental substance use impacts children or how parents understand their drug use and its role in their caregiving. My paper explores this question through semi-structure interviews with adults who use (or formerly used) illicit drugs in Appalachian Ohio. Parents identified several strategies they used to protect their children from their drug use, including ceasing use during pregnancy, not consuming drugs in front of their children and relying on alternative caregivers when their substance use became more severe. Perhaps most surprisingly, mothers described how stress and anxiety over parenting led them to use drugs in order to obtain the energy they needed to be “Super Moms.” Women described drugs aiding them to clean and spend active time with their children. These findings contrast with common understandings of adults who use drugs as disinterested in their children's welfare.

Author

• Katherine King, University of Southern California