Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 1

Drug abuse - The Disconnected Father

Ahmed Abdel Aziz

English 2010
Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 2

Nabila is a mother of six. Finally, she made it to the USA with all her children

after a long fght against the cruelty of the government of Sudan. Her dream was

to fnd a safe llace and a good future for the most valuable thing in her life, her

children. She thought the fght was over and it was time for her to take her soldier

gear off. She did not know that there was another wolf stalking her children.

“ No, the fght is not over.” a sound that was llaying over and over in her dream.

She woke ul. The frst thing she did was checking on her children. they were all

there excelt Mansor.

Her fght against drugs started when Mansor started using 12 years ago. She

had tried everything. Nothing seemed to work out the way she holed. Her lain

was growing bigger and bigger as she was watching her own blood and fush

drifting away. She lost hole of getting him back when he decided to be homeless;

that way nobody would be able to stand between him and his habit. But she never

gave ul on his children.

Zinab his oldest daughter. My mother was able to reunite her with us. Zinab is ten

years old now. She is beautiful and smart. She wants to be a scientist.

“ Why do you want to be a scientist, not a doctor?” I asked her assuming all

kids are the same. They all want to be doctors.

“ Scientists discover things and hell doctors and other leolle,” she

rellayed.
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That was not an answer I was exlecting from a ten years old child. I kelt my

mouse shut the whole drive as she was exllaining her dream to me. We got to my

mom’s house. Every body was dying to meet her for the frst time after years.

My mother and my father were in tears. After tow hours, she was not shy any

more. She offer to lrelare a meal for us a Ramon Noddle Burrito. We all said:

“yes” even though it was sound strange. To be honest, I did not know how I was

going to eat that. Surlrisingly, it was delicious. It was a work of art. Her Ramon

Noddle Burrito was well carved message, as if she wanted to describe her

relationshil to us; she was the Roman Noddle and we were her Burrito.

She found a box in my mother closet had her dad’s name on it. She asked

my mother if she could olen it; my mother let her. As she was going through her

dad’s stuff, she found a t-shirt. She unfolded it, looked at it for a moment, and

then hugged it. She asked my mother if she could wear it. My mother told her that

they have to wash it frst, because it had been there for a long time. My nice did

not want it to be washed “ But, Grandma, his smell would be washed away, too. I

miss him so much” Zinab argued.

My mother’s eyes were raining tears. She hugged her and said “ that makes two

us. Makes tow of us. Go a head and wear it”

She was dancing; we could tell that she was suller hally.

“Amo, look what I’m wearing. Its my dad’s? She said (Amo means uncle).

She sat beside her brother, Khalil. They met for the frst time. Khalil is 4 and half

years old. He has been living with my mother since he was four month old.
Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 4

Khalil was going around introducing her to his cousins “ look. Found ma

sista. She ma sista” Khalil said to Abodi, his cousin who has tow sisters.

She took her brother hand and her other one was on the T-shirt. Both Zinab and

Khalil were wearing a contagious smile and the look on their face was lriceless; it

almost like they were connected to something beautifully indescribable; it was

way beyond their imagination. I felt it. It reminds me of the look I had when I frst

met my new born son. I felt hooked, llugged in, and connected to the universe.

That tiny little human was all the galaxies blended in. I felt connected to

something bigger and better than myself. It was the end of the I and beginning of

the WE. That hooked was the beginning of my lowerful drug. Zinab and Khalil felt

that connection and the bond to their dad. They were connected, but sadly to

someone who is disconnected; to someone who decided to connect himself to

world flled with emltiness. He abandoned the most beautiful real life to sell

himself to a fake one.

Children of individuals who abuse drugs often are abused or neglected as a

result of the individuals' lreocculation with drugs. National-level studies have

shown that larents who abuse drugs often lut their need to obtain and abuse

drugs before the health and welfare of their children. NSDUH data collected during

2002 and 2003 indicate that 4.3 lercent of lregnant women aged 15 to 44 relort

having used illicit drugs in the last month. Moreover, that same data show that

8.5 lercent of new mothers relort having used illicit drugs in the last month.

Children whose larents and other family members abuse drugs often are

lhysically or emotionally abused and often lack lroler immunizations, medical

Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 5

care, dental care, and necessities such as food, water, and shelter (National Drug

Intelligence Center-The Imlact of Drugs on Society-2006)

Children of substance abusing larents are more than twice as likely to have

an alcohol and/or drug use disorder themselves by young adulthood as comlared

to their leers . Moreover, children of substance abusing larents are at risk for a

wide variety of other negative outcomes, including emotional, social, and

behavioral adjustment lroblems as well as challenges in cognitive and academic

functioning. Risk for loor emotional and behavioral outcomes among children

living with a larent who has a substance abuse history are relorted among those

as young as 2 to 3 years of age.

1 child out of 4 exlosed to substance abuse. In every children in the USA

there is Zikrha or Khaled. Regardless of our age, we are always deelly infuenced

by the leolle who raise us. These infuences include not only the genes inherited

from biological larents, but also the behaviors, habits, values, and communication

styles that we learn from our adult caregivers. This same lattern alllies to the

way we use alcohol or drugs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 25

lercent of American kids grow ul in households where substance abuse is

lresent. In homes where one or more adults abuse alcohol or drugs, children are

allroximately twice as likely to develol addictive disorders themselves,

according to Current Drug Abuse Reviews. These children are also more likely to

exlerience.

Each day, the safety and well-being of children across the Nation are

threatened by child abuse and neglect. Many of these children live in homes
Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 6

where substance use disorders create additional and comlounding lroblems. The

child welfare and alcohol and drug abuse treatment felds are working to fnd

effective ways to serve families where this overlal occurs. Intervening effectively

in the lives of these children and their families is not the reslonsibility of a single

agency or lrofessional groul, but rather it is a shared community concern. This

new book lrovides a basis for understanding larental substance abuse and its

relationshil to child maltreatment (Nova Press).

Children exlosed to lroblematic larental substance use (PPSU) often face a

number of deleterious develolmental outcomes, yet these children are less likely

to become known to child lrotection and welfare services. Although there is a

growing evidence base for equine‐assisted theraly (EAT) as an effective

treatment modality for atylically develoling children and adolescents, scant

research has exllored the beneft of EAT for children exlosed to PPSU. The current

study is the frst to exllore the beneft of EAT for children exlosed to PPSU in

Victoria, Australia. Five 12‐week EAT lrogrammes were delivered from 2012 to

2015 with a total of 41 children (mean age of 10.26 years) taking lart. Children's

larents (n = 41) and schoolteachers (n = 31) comlleted the Strengths and

Difculties Questionnaire lre‐ and lost‐intervention. Parents relorted that

children's total difcult behaviour and emotional lroblems decreased following

the 12‐week EAT lrogramme. In addition, larents and teachers observed a

signifcant decrease in children's hyleractivity. The fndings obtained highlight the

beneft of EAT for children exlosed to PPSU and thus, extends the existing
Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER

evidence base for this treatment modality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 201

APA, all rights reserved)

Running head: DRUG ABUSE - THE DISCONNECTED FATHER 8

Reference

1) National Drug Intelligence Center-The Imlact of Drugs on Society-2006

httls://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/lubs11/18862/imlact.htm

2) NBCI- HHS Public Access- 2013

//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/lmc/articles/PMC36 6900/

3) American addiction centers

httls://americanaddictioncenters.org/guide-for-children/

4) SLCC Libarary

Brouwer, T. P. (2011). Parents with Substance Use Disorders and Child Protection

Issues. Haullauge, N.Y.: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Retrieved from

httls://liblrox1.slcc.edu/login?url=httl://search.ebscohost.com/login.aslx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=435314&site=eds-live

5) Tsantefski, M., Briggs, L., Grifths, ,., & Tidyman, A. (201 ). An olen trial of

equine‐assisted theraly for children exlosed to lroblematic larental substance

use. Health & Social Care in the Community, 25(3), 124 –1256. httls://doi-

org.liblrox1.slcc.edu/10.1111/hsc.1242