The Child Harmed by Drugs

Abstract

Drug involvement in child maltreatment has become more prevalent as the use of therapeutic drugs and illicit drugs has increased over a generation. Harm can come from misguided or malicious administration, through interference with treatment of childhood illness or from the social environment created by a drug-using parent. Recognising and confirming the drug’s role in a child’s presentation is a first step. Management has to proceed with understanding of the drug, as instrument of harm, of the circumstances that allowed the harm to occur and of interactions between the two. The aim, as with child maltreatment of any cause, is to protect the child from life-long damage to mental and physical health. In this monograph, we describe how to recognise the maltreated child among children who present with poisoning or confusing medical conditions, how to confirm the diagnosis, how to combine medical care with the need to gather legal evidence and how to deploy resources for the child’s protection.