Page 6 - Work Force October 2016

A mother’s grief turns to activism
NIAGARA FALLS — To many CSEA members, the heroin and opioid epidemic is not just a new reality of their jobs, but a sad reality of their lives.
A growing number of working families whose children have died from overdoses are calling for a change in approach to addressing the crisis, including increasing treatment availability, having insurance companies improve their coverage of addiction treatment options and treating addiction as the disease it is.
One of those activists is CSEA Erie County Local member Debra Smith, who lost her son Nathaniel to addiction in September 2015.
Smith, who is employed by the Erie County Probation Department, recently told her story as part of
a panel discussion at the CSEA Western Region Fall Conference.
“Like many people who experience accidents and injury, (Nathaniel) was prescribed Demerol after surgery and became addicted to painkillers,” Smith said.
Nathaniel soon became dependent to his medicine, setting him on a path of addiction that ended with his death.
“I am heartbroken,” Smith told conference attendees. “Nathaniel died at 26. He was brilliant, sensitive
and kind. He was a loving and gifted person, and he didn’t deserve to die alone.”
After losing her son, Smith decided to take action to ensure that no other family has to go through her pain. She told her story before the Erie County Legislature to urge lawmakers to boost funding to combat the opioid crisis, establish
a county opiate epidemic task force and fight for humane treatment for those who are addicted.
Specifically, Smith is educating others about humanizing addiction to hopefully break the social stigma attached to addiction, which is a disease.
“By telling my story, hopefully
we can reduce harm by raising awareness, treat the less fortunate with more dignity and spread a little more unconditional love around,” she said.
Legislation must match social demand for policy changes
The opioid epidemic has also had a devastating effect on children whose parents or guardians are fighting addiction.
Many CSEA members report the rise in social service caseloads is partly due to the opioid epidemic and the lack of resources dedicated to drug treatment, family services
Debra Smith holds a photo of her son, Nathaniel who lost his life to addiction.
‘There are only so many hours in a day’
Editor’s Note: A CSEA member working in the Unified Court System said she’s seen the impact increased heroin abuse has had on vulnerable children and the caseworkers who come to family court. The Work Force is not identifying the member because of a fear of retaliation and unfair blame, but she detailed what too many CPS workers and court employees face every day:
and still can’t kick heroin. As a result, you see the same family staying in the system for much longer. The goal is to keep families together or try
to reunite them later, but it’s much more difficult because parents are
in treatment a lot longer. The rate of recidivism is a lot higher. Heroin just seems to be a much more difficult drug problem to kick.
We have kids who are reunited with their parents and then have
to be taken out of the home over and over again. They can be placed
in different foster homes. They
may initially have family resources available, but those family members sometimes decide they can’t
handle it anymore. These children sometimes wind up with growing behavioral problems each time they are removed. It’s very traumatic on them.
A lot of people start with prescription pain pills and end up using heroin. Addicts describe heroin as a high unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. The first high is the
best high, so they’re chasing that first high every time they use.
What caseworkers do is they arrange for services. The parents and the children need help. If a caseworker isn’t able to devote their full attention, that’s a problem. There are only so many hours in a day. If a recovering addict calls because they are going to use and they don’t get a call back from their caseworker that day because he or she is busy with other cases, now a family has fallen
October 2016
rehab two, three, four times “W
e see parents who go to
through the cracks. ”
6 The Work Force
and mental health services here in New York state and nationwide.
CSEA is urging the governor
to sign a bill that would limit the number of cases per month for child protective services workers in an effort to give struggling families the help they so desperately deserve. This was one of the main reasons that the Western Region educated members about the crisis at its recent conference.
In addition to Smith’s story, the region program included a look
at opiates throughout history, approaches to treatment and
recovery and presentations by law enforcement, a social worker who treats those with addiction and a recovering addict.
Western Region activist Kari Wilferth, an Ontario County
Social Services caseworker, said the workshop was empowering, emotional and necessary. “My takeaway from this experience is that heroin does not discriminate,” she said. “Addiction can happen
to anyone, and we all need to be problem solvers when confronting
this epidemic.”
— Ove Overmyer