美国国家公共电台 NPR The Foster Care System Is Flooded With Children Of The Opioid Epidemic

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The U.S. foster care system is overwhelmed in part because America's opioid crisis is overwhelming. Thousands of children have had to be taken out of the care of parents or a parent who is an addict¹. One of the states with the biggest one-year increase in the number of children who need foster care is Indiana. Judge Marilyn Moores heads up the Indianapolis juvenile² court and joins us now from member station WFYI. Your Honor, thanks very much for being with us.

MARILYN MOORES: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: You've called this a tsunami³. What's happening, from where you see it?

MOORES: Well, we've gone from having 2,500 children in care three years ago having 5,500 kids in care. It has just exploded our systems.

SIMON: And help us understand it in as detailed⁴ a way as you can. What kind of cases are you seeing? What are you seeing in children and families?

MOORES: Well, one of the hallmarks is we're seeing many younger children than we had seen before. I think the average age is about three years younger than we had seen. We see lots and lots of opiate-addicted⁵ babies following their releases from NICU's where they went through withdrawal⁶ from opiate addiction⁷ that they suffered in utero. We see kids, little, itty-bitty kids, that are found in car seats in the backs of the cars where parents have overdosed in the front seat, and because of the age of the children, we can't safely leave them with addicted parents. And so it has just overruled (ph) our system.

SIMON: What do you do?

MOORES: Well, we're scrambling⁸. I have kids in - that I've had to find a foster home for not in Marion County but in Lake County, which is by Chicago. That's a two and a half hour drive.

SIMON: Yeah.

MOORES: How can I reunify parents with a child where they can't even see their child on a regular basis? We have kids who are sleeping in the Department of Child Services office because there are no homes for them that can be, you know, quickly found. Our public defenders⁹, our DCS case managers, our guardians¹⁰ ad litem, our judicial¹¹ officers, are all overwhelmed. But everyone pulls together to try their very best to ensure child safety.

SIMON: Let me pursue a difficult and delicate matter. I think a lot of people listening to this interview will wonder, why put any priority on reunification of child and parent if that parent is an addict? Is that really a good idea?

MOORES: There's a lot of debate about that, but the law requires that reasonable effort to be made to reunify first. Sadly, in some cases, the law has determined¹² that parents have a due process right to their children. In other words, we treat children like chattel¹³ of their parents, like possessions and so they have - and these are Supreme¹⁴ Court precedent¹⁵. I think that those - many of those precedents¹⁶ were issued at a time when keeping kids with parents - there were extended families who were able to help support and take care of kids. But we don't have that now. And I wonder if the law isn't antiquated¹⁷ in that regard.

SIMON: I mean, obviously, it sounds like you need more resources, more foster families, more employees in the Department of Children and Family Services. You just don't wave a wand and have that happen, though, do you?

MOORES: No, you don't. And it's been incredibly difficult for funding to keep pace with the need and the demand for services. Our director of Department of Child Services just resigned and issued a letter saying that the constraints¹⁸ that the budget was placing on her all but ensured children would die.

SIMON: It's going to drive a nail in the heart of many people when they hear that. As you know, President Trump¹⁹ has declared the opioid epidemic²⁰ a health emergency. Has that had any effect?

MOORES: It didn't come with money (laughter). And that is sadly what the necessity is; that and we need legal reform. We need reform that literally²¹ looks and says how much in the way of resources should be devoted²² to trying to reunify children with parents who cannot conquer their addiction. The recidivist rate for opiate addiction is somewhere in the 70 percent. We can't keep parents sober long enough to reunify their children with them. And even those efforts come at great cost to the taxpayers²³, and they come at even greater cost for the children because being in this system is a trauma²⁴ for children. And these back-and-forth attempts in trying to reunify them with their parents is scarring these children.

SIMON: And how do you - how do you answer the cry of some of the parents who might be addicts²⁵ that the only motivation they have to try and get clean is that they can one day become a good parent?

MOORES: Well, I think that we need to make reasonable efforts to try and reunify, but we have to have a better balancing of the child's right to safety, security, a right to pursue happiness and honor that child's life as much as we're honoring the parent's right. And right now, that balance does not tip legally in favor of the child.

SIMON: Juvenile court judge Marilyn Moores in Indianapolis, thank you so much.

MOORES: Yes, sir.

1 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

4 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

5 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

8 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

11 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 chattel   

n.动产；奴隶

参考例句：

• They were slaves,to be bought and sold as chattels.他们是奴隶，将被作为财产买卖。
• A house is not a chattel.房子不是动产。

14 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

15 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

16 precedents   

引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例

参考例句：

• There is no lack of precedents in this connection. 不乏先例。
• He copied after bad precedents. 他仿效恶例。

17 antiquated   

adj.陈旧的，过时的

参考例句：

• Many factories are so antiquated they are not worth saving.很多工厂过于陈旧落后，已不值得挽救。
• A train of antiquated coaches was waiting for us at the siding.一列陈旧的火车在侧线上等着我们。

18 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

19 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

20 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

23 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

24 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

25 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册