without families who have houses to remortgage, savings, credit cards with high spending limits or have employee benefits that cover treatment, many kids just get sicker, more vulnerable and harder to treat.
“you just assume that there would be a place for them to go,” the mother said. “you just assume that we’d prioritize our children.”
her daughter was offered a detox bed in a city 90 minutes away from her home where she could stay for seven to 10 days. but after that, she was supposed to go home and somehow carry on.
it didn’t seem a viable option. the family tried detoxing her at home. she stayed off drugs for a few days and then relapsed.
the ministry offered to put her name on a waiting list for a bed at peak house, a co-ed youth centre in vancouver. the counsellor her family had hired to help recommended against it. regardless, the girl refused to go.
the only other advice ministry outreach workers had for the mom was to tell her daughter to get her drugs tested for fentanyl. they told the mother at least that way your daughter won’t die of an opioid overdose — as if fentanyl were the only danger her daughter faced as she chased down drugs to ease her pain.
aside from completely ignoring the fact that this teen wants to quit drugs, even as a harm reduction strategy, it’s fraught.