If you’re a parent struggling with addiction, and you want to receive recovery treatment, you may be concerned about what will happen to your children while you go to rehab. Undoubtedly, going into treatment will be a huge benefit to both you and your children, but making such a huge decision when there are children involved can be scary. While outpatient treatment allows you to care for your household responsibilities while you get treatment, inpatient treatment will keep you away from your home and your children for an extended period.
Child and Family Services
When you decide to go into inpatient rehab, you won’t be able to take your children along with you. There is no way to guarantee that when you’re in rehab in LA for meth your children won’t be removed from your care. But getting sober will positively affect your ability to parent your children more healthily. If your addiction has already led to Child Protective Services getting involved, you may have little say in where your children are placed while you’re receiving treatment. In most states, child welfare services are obligated to make every effort to reunify you with your children after you’ve completed treatment and are living a drug-free lifestyle. They may continue monitoring your situation for a time, but you will have your children back in your care. If an authoritative agency isn’t involved, you have more control over what happens to your children. You can leave them with a spouse or significant other, a friend, or relatives while you’re in rehab.
Planning for Rehab When You Have Kids
Once you’ve decided to get addiction treatment, you’ll want to make a plan for your children. One of the first things you’ll need to do is decide where they will stay and who will be their caregiver. You’ll also need to notify the school that your chosen individual will be looking after your children in your absence. You don’t have to explain your absence, but you may have to complete paperwork or permission slips giving the caregiver permission to pick up your children. It’s important to contact the children’s medical care provider and let them know that you are authorizing them to make medical decisions for your children in your absence. It is recommended but not required that you have legal paperwork like a Power of Attorney drafted to ensure that your selected caregiver can effectively take care of your children while you’re in rehab. Whether you plan on telling them where you’re going and why is up to you, but you’ll want to talk to them about their new living arrangements once you’ve finalized your plan so they know what to expect.
Why Treatment is Necessary
Addiction treatment is necessary because addiction is a legitimate chronic health condition that can lead to death if it goes untreated. Not only does addiction affect the addict, but it also affects those who love and care for them. Treatment can give you the chance to be the parent that you want to be for your kids. There are different rehab options like partial hospitalization and outpatient, and there are even more options across facilities. Some treatment centers allow family visitation, unlimited phone calls, or family programming that allows older children to participate in certain ways.
Needing addiction treatment doesn’t make you a failed parent. It means you’re a parent trying to correct a mistake. There’s no guarantee that you won’t lose your kids when you go into rehab, but if you don’t go into rehab, you probably won’t be the best parent you can be. Sometimes it’s necessary to put yourself first.
