Assessing Substance Misusing Mothers

'A substance misusing mother is definitely a bad mother!'

Many times in my work as a medical doctor working with substance-misusing women I come across this perception both from the mothers themselves as well as from the professionals. This presentation will discuss whether substance misuse in itself is indeed a barrier to parenthood and whether women testing positive for illicit drugs should be automatically considered bad mothers and their children to be considered at risk.If the substance-misusing mother continues her drug misuse during her pregnancy does that qualify her as very dangerous to her children? Which drugs are the most dangerous: licit or illicit? Does the substance-misusing mother have autonomy over decisions taken during her pregnancy or does substance-misuse render her incapable to give her opinion?  Where do we draw the line?

After delivery of the neonate, if the mother stops her substance misuse should we give her another chance? How many chances should we give her? How do we assess if she is at risk to her child? How do we assess when enough is enough? How many risks can we take? Is drug misuse the only source of risk to the child? Can we test and assess good parenting?

The presentation will conclude with examples of assessment tools that may help professionals to assess whether a substance-misusing mother is putting her child at risk or not.