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While the carefree days of childhood are supposed to be a time of joy and wonder, the harsh reality is that too many young lives are marred by abuse, neglect, and exposure to toxic substances. A sobering new study from the University of Sydney has shed light on the long-lasting mental health consequences of such childhood trauma.
- 21% of depressive disorder cases
- 24% of anxiety disorder cases
- 32% of drug use disorder cases
- 39% of self-harm cases and 41% of suicide attempts
- 27% of alcohol use disorder cases
In other words, the wounds inflicted on these vulnerable young minds don’t just heal with time – they fester, leading to a lifetime of emotional turmoil and anguish.
The culprits behind this mental health crisis are all too familiar: physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as emotional and physical neglect. And let’s not forget the insidious impact of exposure to drugs and alcohol, which can further compound the trauma. It’s a veritable perfect storm of factors that rob children of their innocence and saddle them with invisible scars.
But what’s most alarming is that these issues aren’t just limited to the individual. The researchers estimate that eradicating childhood maltreatment could prevent over 1.8 million cases of mental illness in Australia alone. That’s a staggering societal cost, both in terms of human suffering and the strain on our healthcare system.
Yet, despite these sobering statistics, the conversation around childhood trauma and its mental health implications often remains hushed and stigmatised. It’s time to shed light on this silent epidemic and demand better support systems for vulnerable children and their families.
After all, the mind is a precious thing, and no child should have to navigate its darkest corners alone. It’s high time we prioritise prevention, intervention, and holistic healing – because the alternative is a generation haunted by the demons of their past, condemned to a lifetime of mental health struggles.
Source (WRD News)
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Research spanning over three decades has consistently highlighted how the frequency, severity, and impact of violence escalate in the presence of alcohol and drugs.
Unified Care for Safer Lives
It’s all too common for domestic violence and substance use to be treated as separate issues, which often leads to patchy solutions. We really need to start looking at these problems together, creating strategies that keep victims and children safe. By focusing on comprehensive policies, we can tackle these complex challenges head-on.
When we truly grasp how substance use and domestic violence are linked, we can advocate more effectively for solutions that protect families and foster a healthier society. It’s crucial to break the silence that many victims endure. By having open conversations and building supportive networks, we can provide those in need with the resources to rebuild their lives and make our communities safer.
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World Mental Health Day 2024.
It’s Time to fully apply the COMPREHENSIVE MENTAL HEALTH ACTION PLAN 2013-2030 (W.H.O) Drug use has not place in the effective plan.
Summary and its Application to Alcohol & Other Drug Issues - Dalgarno Institute
From the Conclusion: Any attempt to normalize, and thus embrace drug use as part of everyday life, is antithetical to the entire World Health Organisation’s Mental Health Plan.
That substance use may be a subset of behaviours in a culture is not in question.
However, what is in question, is its status. A status that is historically and wisely utterly unacceptable for all and more of the reasons outlined in attached document. However, it has been gradually shifting, due to addiction for profit protagonists and the emergence (particularly in first world economies) of rabid individualism which sees ‘rights’ as only enshrined in the egocentric, with little to no regard for the ‘neighbour’.
Subsequently, there has been a stronger emergence of ever ‘creative’ permission models, modes or mantras that give a tacit consent to these behaviours. These include the misuse of anti-stigma rhetoric to deny contestation of self and community harming activities – not least the mental health of a society and its members. This is completely unacceptable under the terms of this proposed plan.
The Dalgarno Institute, as part of the primary prevention sector, want to see this robust plan implemented with a strict eye to the absolute minimising, of not simply the potential harms of substance use, but more its capacity to even engage communities.
The upstream approach must look to ensure, as best as possible, that substance use gets no cultural leverage for normalization practices. Any approval in the public square of substance use behaviour, is only and always counter-productive to the best-practice outcomes of this mental health plan.
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The recently released report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is an overview of statistics. As with previous reports its design is not to drill down into factors influencing protection orders or interventions, other than to refer to them as being subject to the following outcomes.
- having been seriously harmed.
- being at risk or significant risk of harm.
- having no other care options.
The following is an excerpt and very basic summary of the extensive statistical report. However, one does not have to imagine what are key elements of harm that facilitate the need for intervention. All one has to do is look at adjacent reported emergences in growing dysfunctional culture that has and is permitting greater and greater substance use.
Even though alcohol is being more closely monitored, it for over 150 years (Dalgarno Institute has the records), has been a community health, safety and well-being wrecking ball; but now we have the burgeoning illicit drug industry, that is being given greater tacit permission to operate – largely unchecked – in our current culture. The use of stimulants in particular, are at the very least correlated with some of these growing harms to children and families.
Of course, if one is able to spelunk the obfuscated data on drugs and violent crime the correlation soon tips into causal– but so very few will call it out in a now recreational drug use enamoured society. Aided and abetted by the continuing misuse of drug policy and a failure of an unequivocal public voice on this toxic conduct – The same voice we have on tobacco – a voice that worked. One Message, One Focus, One Voice – Quit!
This report provides an overview of children in the child protection system in 2022–23, including children subject to notifications, investigations, and substantiations of maltreatment, and the ways children were supported.
The child protection system aims to protect children from maltreatment in family settings. Child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power (WHO, 2020).
Key findings:
- In 2022–23, about 180,000 children came into contact with the system, an increase from about 178,000 in 2021–22.
- Between 2018–19 and 2022–23, the rate of children who were subjects of notifications increased from 48 to 51 per 1,000.
- Between 2018–19 and 2022–23, the rate of children with substantiations remained relatively stable around 8.0 per 1,000.
- Between 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2023, the rate of children in out-of-home care remained stable around 8.0 per 1,000.
- As at 30 June 2023 45,300 children were in out-of-home care (7.9 per 1,000) (see Data table 5.1). Of these:19,700 were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (57 per 1,000 Indigenous children) 25,500 were non-Indigenous children (4.7 per 1,000 non-Indigenous children).
- For children who were in out-of-home care at 30 June 2023: about 89% (40,400) were in home-based care (foster care, relative/kinship care and other home-based care) (see Supplementary data table S5.3) About 3 in 5 (61% or 27,700) children were aged 5–14 years (see Supplementary data table S5.5) disability status was known for 72% (32,500) of children in care, of whom 21% (9,700) had a disability (see Supplementary data table S5.8) The rate of children living in inner and outer regional (12 per 1,000) and remote and very remote (14 per 1,000) areas were more than twice that of those living in major cities (6.0 per 1,000) (see Supplementary data table S5.9) most (94% or 42,300) were on a care and protection order (see Supplementary data table S5.13).(Source: Child protection Australia 2022–23, Supporting children - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)
It is vital that we keep joining the dots and putting this oft buried issues into the public square.
As it has been said, trying to fix familial, intimate partner and child abuse and neglect without addressing the alcohol and other drug issue is simply using a mop whilst leaving the tap running.
It is way past time to #preventdontpromote drug use and promote children’s and women’s rights over the drug using public recreational demands!
Dalgarno Institute
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Importance Children exposed to substance use during pregnancy have increased health needs but whether these are influenced by engagement in out-of-home care is uncertain.
Objective: To evaluate the association between substance use during pregnancy, out-of-home care and hospitalization utilization, and costs from birth up to age 20 years.
Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study using individual-linked population birth, hospital, and out-of-home care information of all liveborn infants from New South Wales, Australia, between 2001 and 2020 using longitudinal population-based linkage records from administrative databases. Substance use during pregnancy included newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (n = 5946) and intrauterine exposure to drugs of addiction (n = 1260) and other substances (eg, tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs or misused prescription drugs; n = 202 098). Children not exposed to substance use during pregnancy were those without known exposure to substance use during pregnancy (n = 1 611 351). Data were analyzed from July 2001 to December 2021.
Main Outcomes: Main outcomes were hospital readmission, length of stay, and cost burden associated with substance use during pregnancy from birth up to age 20 years. Outcomes were investigated using 2-part and Poisson regression models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. Mediation analysis was used to evaluate whether the association of substance use during pregnancy with risk of readmission was mediated through engagement with out-of-home care….Excess hospital costs associated with substance use during pregnancy were A$129.0 million in 2019 to 2020. Mediation analyses showed that any out-of-home care contact mediated the association between substance use during pregnancy and risk of inpatient readmission and lower health care cost (decreased by A$25.4 million). For children with neonatal abstinence syndrome, any out-of-home care contact mediated readmission risk by approximately 30%, from adjusted RR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.19-1.35, to RR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.98-1.02.
Conclusion and Relevance: Children who were exposed to substance use during pregnancy incurred more hospital costs than children who were not exposed up to 20 years of age, but this was reduced in association with any contact with out-of-home care. This provides insights into possible strategies for reducing health and financial burdens associated with exposure to substance use during pregnancy for children.