Stories of Loss: Separation of Children and Mothers Who Use Opioids

In the present article, we examine the experiences of women who use opioids and have lost children to governing agencies or family members with a focus on access to resources. We conducted 28 qualitative interviews with mothers who misused opioids and lost custody of their children. Their narratives are analyzed within a social capital framework. Mothers with both negative and positive social capital, whose children were removed, desired to regain their maternal role. However, mothers with negative social capital had increased difficulty navigating the judicial system and accessing needed services, were less likely to remain in treatment, more likely to use drugs, and less likely to regain custody of their children than women with positive social capital. We suggest that medical, social, and law enforcement agencies do more to link mothers who misuse opioids with positive social capital in order to increase their participation and retention in treatment and help keep families intact.