Rich Urban Mom Addicts Get Sobriety Coaches; Poor Moms Get Jail [Alternet.org]

Jane Stevens 7/25/1412:00 PM

If you’re a rich mom, addiction is a health issue. If you’re poor, rural, or a person of color, addiction is a crime. Women at the lower rungs of the economic ladder can have their children taken away if they are found to be using drugs or are charged with child endangerment. They are branded as bad people who do not deserve our sympathy. The social stigma and fear of losing custody of their children will keep many of these women from getting the help they need. Many will wind up in prison, with their families ripped apart and their chances of getting a job, education, or decent housing destroyed.

Does Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo fame fear a visit from social services or cops after announcing that she is the coke-addicted mother of a toddler? Very doubtful. And she certainly doesn't have to worry about prison.

[Lynn Stuart Parramore wrote this for Alternet.org]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/rich-urban-mom-addicts-get-sobriety-coaches-poor-moms-get-jail

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This same thing happens in our Family Court here in a Rural Area. Our family judge (I have discussed with him what ACEs are and how they relate to drug addicted mothers and even why mothers may use in the first place (to self-medicate pain), even when I come to the court with the mother, treats these mother's who I see are really doing well with their child like they are stigmatized "trash". It is terrible and the infant gets removed thus creating a series of attachment issues for the infant and further traumatization of the mother. This is a frustrating, counter-productive policy!!!!!

7/25/141:12 PM

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