WASTED

PROGRAMME 3: MUM AND DAD

WARNING: This programme contains scenes of drug injecting

This final programme looks at drug misuse from a different point of view – the children. Kim, a single mother and heroin and crack user, has seen her daughter Serena taken into the care of her sister. Pat, a grandmother, now cares for Daniel and Kyle, following the death of their father from an overdose. The boys' mother – Pat's daughter – neglected and abused them due to drug addiction.

We also follow Kim as she tries to give up drugs for the sake of her daughter, and hear from Daniel and Kyle about their life with drug-using parents. The consequences of parental drug addiction for everyone involved are all too painfully depicted.

In one study, children of drug users expressed hurt, rejection, shame, sadness and anger, and were forced to live with the anxiety that those feelings created (Adfam, 2003).

PROGRAMME AIMS

• To illustrate the problems faced by drug users who are also parents
• To highlight the feelings experienced by children whose parents are addicts
• To show the impact upon other family members
• To demonstrate the need for adequate support for children and carers affected by drug use
• To encourage viewers to think about the long-term, generational consequences of drug addiction.