Next week (Feb 14th-20th) is Children of Alcohol Awareness Week where we take a little time to focus not on the addict, but those affected by the addiction. It has always been said that alcoholism is a family disease, meaning that is takes a hold of everyone connected to its devastation, children included. And so with that, we take this week to focus on those kids and what we can do to help them through this difficult journey. Did you know that one in four children live in a family effected by addiction? Think about how many kids or teens that is in your classroom if you are a teacher, on your team if you are a coach, or in a group you’re involved with if you are a parent. It is an astronomical number and one that is often never known because it is known to be a silent population,...

More children are being sent into foster care as a result of the abuse of heroin and opioid painkillers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Officials say opioid abuse is straining child welfare agencies. The number of children in foster care in the United States rose 3.5 percent from 2013 to 2014, reaching 415,129 in September 2014. While national data do not measure how many children arrive in foster care because of their parents’ drug use, some state and local officials say opioid addiction is a likely factor in the increase. Experts tell the newspaper the overprescribing of opioid painkillers, along with a cheap and plentiful supply of heroin, has contributed to the crisis. A Vermont state survey found opioid use was a factor in 80 percent of cases in which a child under age 3 was taken into custody. Governor Peter Shumlin said the number of children under the custody of...

The number of U.S. children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is on the rise, with the largest increase seen in girls and Hispanic children, according to a new study. The rate of ADHD among children ages 5 to 17 increased 43 percent from 2003 to 2011, HealthDay reports. In 2011, an estimated 12 percent of American children had ever been diagnosed with ADHD, researchers from George Washington University found. The study found ADHD is still almost twice as common among white children compared with Hispanic children (14 percent versus less than 8 percent). Between 2003 and 2011, ADHD diagnoses increased 83 percent among Hispanic children, compared with 46 percent among white children. While twice as many boys were diagnosed with ADHD compared with girls, the prevalence among girls rose 55 percent during the study period, from 4.3 percent in 2003 to 7.5 percent in 2011. The findings are published in...

A new study finds children who take stimulants to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to be bullied at school than their peers who do not have attention disorders. Those who have ever shared their prescriptions are at highest risk of bullying, Time reports. Children who had shared their medication or had it taken from them in the previous year were four-and-a-half times more likely to be frequently bullied. The findings come from a survey of almost 5,000 children in five public schools. “We know that among adolescents in the U.S., prescription stimulants are some of the most misused and shared diverted and drugs,” said lead researcher Quyen Epstein-Ngo of the University of Michigan. “We also know that bullying is a real issue. There was some research that suggested that kids were having their medication stolen or were being coerced into giving it away.” The prevalence of children ages...

In a study published in The BMJ, researchers found that exposure to secondhand smoke as an infant as young as 4 months is associated with increased risk of tooth decay at age 3, according to Medical News Today. Preventing tooth decay in young children tends to focus on restricting sugar, supplementing with oral fluoride and fluoride varnish. However, studies suggest that secondhand smoke plays a part in the development of cavities, which can result from a number of factors that include physical, biological, and environmental and lifestyle. A big part of oral health is the acquisition of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), that produce acids from the sugar one consumes, dissolving the hard enamel coating on teeth. The age of highest risk for these bacteria is at 19-31 months. Looking at smoking during pregnancy and exposure to household smoke in infants at 4 months of age as risk factors, Japanese researchers looked...