Posh wrote:Of course they had a choice whether they took drugs or not. What some of them didn't have a choice about was when their father regularly beat them in a drunken rage; when their Mother's boyfriend sexually abused them night after night after night; when they were bullied in school and beaten up after it and no one did anything about it; whether their mother had her own drug habit, which for some meant living in a home of incredible deprivation, used for prostitution and a stopover for other addicts...
And just in case you think
this is not what really happens... what would Posh know about it... I'll give you some real life examples of what people do to kids, usually their own kids. I'll avoid being too graphic on a public message board or repeatedly go over the same point, but these are a couple of people who I have actually worked with PERSONALLY.
A six year old who was repeatedly beaten & neglected by his mother. The occasion when this poor kid's plight was brought to the attention of Social Services was because she had a new boyfriend who didn't like kids. She went away to Blackpool for the weekend and didn't want him cramping their style so left him with a pile of jam sandwiches in a locked room. She didn't think to leave him drink, so when the authorities broke in, alerted by a neighbour who could hear him crying, they found him licking the damp off the walls. They also found the pool cue that she beat him with.
Or what about the teenager who used to take drugs and self mutilate. We (staff) all *
knew* that she had been sexually abused, all our instincts told us but there wasn't a disclosure until she'd been with us for a long time. Eventually she only disclosed because she'd been protecting her younger sister and because she was with us, she couldn't be the protector. Turned out that her mother and the mother's friend used to go out together and pick blokes up, then bring them back. they'd then encourage the blokes to have sex with the teen. When these two paedophiles went out together, she would get absolutely hammered on drink & drugs so that she was practically unconscious by the time they returned home. So you are right, she had a "
choice", she could "
choose" to be awake and aware while she was raped by her mother, mother's friend and whatever drunks they'd convinced to join in, or she could "
choose" to be as far out of it as possible. And society can "
choose" to pretend that none of this really happens and that they aren't '
people', they are just '
druggies' who get what they deserve and are beyond help.
These aren't
'one-offs', these just happened to be two people I recalled clearly from working in child & adolescent services. Sadly, I could mention many, many more.