The Family Nurturing Center is on a mission to prevent future heroin abuse by intervening in the lives of children who have been traumatized.
Northern Kentucky, a center of the nationwide heroin scourge, is seeing dramatic increases in heroin-related overdoses every year. St. Elizabeth Healthcare's five hospitals alone have seen a tripling of heroin overdose cases since 2011, when they started tracking emergency department overdoses. More than 1,000 people died of heroin overdoses in 2013.
The Kentucky Legislature approved a last-minute agreement on a comprehensive heroin bill that provides $24 million for heroin treatment, tougher penalties for dealers and a needle exchange, but a more direct way to beat heroin could be found by fighting child abuse.
If childhood abuse can lead to future addictive behavior, and drug-addicted parents have a higher rate of neglect and abuse toward their children, then the kind of treatment offered by the Family Nurturing Center in Florence could be the key to stopping that seemingly endless cycle.
[For more of this story, written by Amy Scalf, go to http://www.cincinnati.com/stor...heroin-use/26456971/]
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